Humans Arent Stupid, We Just Happen To Be Acting Very Stupidly Credits: UPWORTHY t1bb1e Rollie Williams In case you hadnt noticed, climate science and climate policy involve a hell of a lot of details. Its super, super complex and plebs like you and me, really dont get it. And its actually not because were dumb. Like our U10 report, our ineptitude isnt because we havent got potential, but because we havent put in the time. Here are two of my best friends. Whove kindly volunteered to represent the climate pleb population that makes up the vast majority of Australians. I asked them how many hours a week they spend thinking, reading or trying in anyway to understand climate change and its global implications. Friend: Not a lot. Friend: Negative three hours. Narrator: In contrast, lets think about Justin. Justin spent about seven years studying climate science and policy full time. Just to be clear, if we go on averages, thats approximately 40 hours a week, 48 weeks a year for seven years. Or 13,440 hours in total. A few weeks ago, I got to interview Justin. As a climate pleb myself, I really had just one main question to ask him. Whats all the fuss about Justin? In classic scientist fashion, his answer was really long and complicated. So Ive cut down the just of what he said, to some easy to understand bites. Sounds great. Justin: The way were going, if we continue with business as usual, when we get, if we get to these rises of temperature by the end of the century, you know 4,6,8,10 degrees, then he believes that we would be lucky if 5, 10% of the human population survived the century. Narrator: Sorry, what? Justin: The planet would essentially be uninhabitable for humans. Allowing for the maximum evaporation to cool us down, 35 degrees Celsius, is fatal for humans. We cant radiate away the heat that we naturally produce. So well just die of heat stress. And for huge proportions of the Earth, under these kind of scenarios, that wet-blub temperature of 35 degrees would be exceeded. Narrator: Actually dont worry. After he said that, he said he thought it was implausible. Justin: Its implausible because our civilizations would collapse long before we get to the point of digging up every last barrel of oil. Narrator: Yup, good. Justin: On the path that were headed now, by some estimates, were going to hit 4 degrees rise from the preindustrial by the middle of the century. Thats like four decades away. Weve got to stop kidding ourselves, this is what the science is showing us. Under those conditions, I cannot imagine how the vast majority of humans are going to be able to continue. Narrator: Now, before you go about trying to justify in your mind that hes wrong because these sort of horrific predictions just cant be true. Lets just think about one thing. Most of us are about just as entitled to argue with him as this small bee, or this happy family or gollars. The reality is we live in a specialized society. It takes years of hard work to get to the level of understanding that guys like Justin are at. And as a percentage of the global population, the number whove put that time in, is very small. But theres people in that group who think climate change isnt caused by humans, right? Wrong. Actually theres freakishly few experts who disagree on that point. As Justin explains. Justin: 97% of actual, active climate scientists agree with that position. That climate change is real, its happening now and humans are the overwhelming cause in this century. And have been for the last 100 years. Is it gonna be bad? Or is it gonna be horrifically bad? This is what the scientists debate around. Not it could be fine, nothing like that. Narrator: But surely, if all the best minds whove spent far more than the rest of the population combine thinking, and weighing up of risks of freaking out. Wouldnt more people be doing something about it? You would hope so, but for a lot of complex reasons that is not the case. One of the main reasons is us. Its the climate plebs. Its all of us who spend no time thinking, or reading or trying to understand the risks involved with climate change. As a society, weve got super duper distracted with our own lives. We go to work and have fun on the weekends and no one really thinks about climate change, apart from the people whove dedicated their lives to it. Which would be fine, if we listened to what theyre saying. But we dont. We hear vague talk of disagreement on the radio and we allow that to justify continued inaction. Without any further thought. If wed actually dug a little deeper and thought about it a bit longer. Wed realize that these people have been consistently shown to have nothing to do with climate science. They often have expertise in business or PR or in politics, but not in climate science. So whats my point? And Justins point? Put in the time. No one is saying you need to get a PhD. But prioritize some time in your routine to get yourself familiar with climate science. No one person has all the answers and no one person should. But with 2% of the population actually looking at the question and 98% doing absolutely everything they can to avoid it. Progress is virtually impossible. And dont just take my word for it. Put some of your energy into investigating what Ive just said. Use your brain. Judge what Ive said. And why? Without mass engagement we risk the whole group of generally really nice people, doing something unspeakably horrific to people living only a few decades after them. Justin: Its not that climate change could necessarily be a species extinction event for humanity. But you cant rule it out. And how crazy are we, to continue operating in this way?
Posted on: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 11:26:21 +0000
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