2024-05-12 What to do about the climate?
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The main problem seems to me that nobody knows. So how do we find a
way out of this uncertainty? What should or priorities be?

Before we even start, let me just say that I'm never interested in
debating climate change. It's real, it's here, and people denying it
are just trying to waste our time.

The first category of action, I think, would be political: Vote green,
on all levels of government. And by "green" I mean the most radical
green possible but not necessarily a Green Party member. It all
depends on the voting system, on the actual parties you have. If you
live in a one or two party state or if your Green Party is run by
fascists, I have no idea what you should do. Something about political
change, something about local politics, and so on.

On the individual level, I think uncertainty arises because we're not
sure. No littering looks nice but probably doesn't help much against
the climate. Perhaps it helps against the micro-plastic? But how many
plastic bags from land-locked Switzerland actually end up in the
ocean? How much plastic is that compared to the fishing nets lost at
sea? The oil spills? And here's the moment where it spirals out of
control. Stop! I need to stop because there's no "thinking it through"
when things are so complex unless you're a scientist working on it. I
hope the scientists can do their research, and somebody else can
compile the research into arguments, with weights attached, so that
politicians and individuals know what to tackle first.

This is why I appreciate lists of priorities, even if they are
slightly wrong. They don't have to be perfect because perfection is a
goal used to derail the conversation. If you think the top priority is
to get rid of cars, and you have a lot of arguments against cars, then
getting involved in a discussion where the other party argues about
electric vehicles, lithium batteries, hydrogen storage, road access
for emergency vehicles, mobility for the disabled, then yes to all of
that, but also: get rid of cars. We can have nuance as long as we also
start doing something. We can start by making large, private cars
illegal. Then medium, private cars. Then add fees for long haul
trucks. Build railways. Build trams. Get rid of public parking spaces
without special permits. And on and on. This allows us to pull back
out of car society with grace. We can get started and keep the things
that we think are precious.

The alternative is living as we do, followed by uncontrolled collapse,
I fear.

Yes, it's expensive. Not doing anything, however, is fatal.

Here's what @peterdutoit@mastodon.green recently posted:

> In order of impact:
>
> 🚫 Live car free🚙 Shift to BEV [i.e. Battery Electric Vehicle]✈️
> One less flight (long return)☀️ Use renewable energy🚋 Shift to
> public transport🔨 Refurbishment and renovation🥗 Vegan diet🆒 Heat
> pump⏲️ Improved cooking equipment♨️ Renewable-based heating

He offered these two sources:

* Quantifying the potential for climate change mitigation of
  consumption options, Diana Ivanova et al 2020 Environ. Res. Lett.
  15 093001 DOI 10.1088/1748-9326/ab8589

* Creutzig, F., J. Roy, P. Devine-Wright, J. Díaz-José, F.W. Geels, A.
  Grubler, N. Maϊzi, E. Masanet, Y. Mulugetta, C.D. Onyige, P.E.
  Perkins, A. Sanches-Pereira, E.U. Weber, 2022: Demand, services and
  social aspects of mitigation. In IPCC, 2022: Climate Change 2022:
  Mitigation of Climate Change. Contribution of Working Group III to
  the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on
  Climate Change [P.R. Shukla, J. Skea, R. Slade, A. Al Khourdajie, R.
  van Diemen, D. McCollum, M. Pathak, S. Some, P. Vyas, R. Fradera, M.
  Belkacemi, A. Hasija, G. Lisboa, S. Luz, J. Malley, (eds.)].
  Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK and New York, NY, USA.
  doi: 10.1017/9781009157926.007

The full report of Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change
is a PDF with 2042 pages. So there's an answer if anybody is claiming
that we don't know what to do. But also: there's your answer if you're
wondering why nobody is doing anything. Politicians at the top need
people who read this report for them and my guess is – given what
little I know about Swiss politics, for example – that there is only a
very small number of people that have actually read this report, let
alone understand enough of it in order to make informed decisions.

This is why a public "chain of trust" needs to lead from interviews
with public figures to interviews with experts. The media, including
social media, needs to mediate this. Then people can at least go along
with people they trust, even if this trust is built on public
appearance, hollow campaign promises, good looks, height and whatever
else engenders trust in people.

Anyway, number one: 🚫 Live car free. If you can. Make the kind of
choices that make this easier in the future, or for your children, or
for your friends and family. If you can. But this is one of the goals
we need to pursue. We need to get our priorities right.

(We don't need them to perfectly right, as discussed above. But we
cannot save the planet and car culture, both. One of them will have to
go.)

​#Climate