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Stephen Barlow Profile picture
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22 Apr, 5 tweets, 2 min read
Let me briefly explain what I mean by this. Thinking is like following a set of directions. If you take a wrong turning early on and fail to acknowledge this, you will be forever lost until you acknowledge this mistaken turn.
It doesn't matter how clever you are, what your status is, it means nothing until you recognise your error and the nature of the problem. This is because all your other reasoning based on this will be based on false premises.
This is why youngsters like Dylan, @GretaThunberg and @Fridays4future understand the problem, the climate and ecological crisis, much better than any adult who doesn't acknowledge the basic problem.
If you keep thinking solely in terms purely of techo-fixes, for what is a systemic problem, you have taken a completely wrong turning at the beginning of your reasoning.
Of course technology will play a part in any solution, but only in the context of a whole system change, not as a magic technological solution that will change everything. That mistake is truly magical thinking.

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More from @SteB777

Stephen Barlow Profile picture
23 Apr
1) I fully endorse @GretaThunberg's message, with one exception.

"We understand that the world is very complex, that many are trying their best and this isn't going to be easy."

It's a myth that many in influential positions want action, but are obstructed by circumstances.
2) I do not blame Greta for being taken in by people in influential positions who say "I want action on the climate crisis, but you have to understand that contracts, legal obligations, public opinion, or whatever, stop us". This is simply not true and contrary to evidence.
3) The reality is that whilst these influential people would like to see the climate crisis addressed, they are actually far more wedded to their luxury lifestyles, their high status, wealth and high salaries, than they are about addressing the climate and ecological emergency.
Read 25 tweets
Stephen Barlow Profile picture
22 Apr
'Boris Johnson will warn world leaders not to “throw away the chance to preserve our planet”'

Then why is Boris Johnson throwing away the chance?
independent.co.uk/climate-change…
As @GretaThunberg keeps trying to warn everyone, the science derived from the IPCC SR15, essentially says on current emissions, we only have about 8 years of our total carbon budget to keep within 1.5C of warming left.
ipcc.ch/sr15/
What this means, is not that we have to start reducing our emissions in 8 years time, but that we would have to go to zero emissions in 8 years time if we don't start rapidly reducing our carbon emissions immediate.
Read 12 tweets
Stephen Barlow Profile picture
13 Apr
1) Let me explain this in a series of tweets. I'm not a spokesperson for @GretaThunberg. However, I was saying "change is coming whether you like it or not on my commenting on the Guardian for much longer than Greta as @john_vidal and @dpcarrington will testify.
2) Therefore, I can explain exactly what I meant by "change is coming whether you like it or not", or various versions of that, which means the same. I can't speak for Greta, but as her other arguments are almost identical to mine, I can explain what I mean.
3) There is a view, a narrative being peddled that the system as it is, is just how it is. That you will never stop overconsumption, carbon emissions etc. You are peddling this narrative. I doubt you could even explain what this means.
Read 27 tweets
Stephen Barlow Profile picture
12 Apr
What a truly nasty and cynical article.

"a monument to our new religion of environmentalism"

"because she has devoted herself to a cause that, realistically, will never be won"

I will deal with this cynicism in the thread below.
independent.co.uk/arts-entertain…
1) Let's deal with the sack of it sneering argument that environmentalism is religion and that Greta is some sort of quasi saint being worshipped by environmentalists. These are false arguments, specious arguments, and this is sophistry as I will demonstrate.
2) The situation is very simple. The best scientific evidence available to humanity says currently our civilization is on a globally suicidal path because of anthropogenic climate change and the systematic destruction of the Earth's biodiversity.
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
Read 24 tweets
Stephen Barlow Profile picture
13 Mar
@GretaThunberg At the end of my ecology degree, in a group tutorial, the director the course said to all the students, you've heard all the ecological theories now, do you believe this is how the natural world actually operates?

I said "no", at the very best these are crude approximations.
@GretaThunberg "Crude approximates" of something much more complex. All the other students rolled their eyes, to sort of say, here's Stephen going off on one again. Then the director of the course said to the students, unfortunately Stephen is correct, and at best these are approximations.
@GretaThunberg He said I'm sorry that you've invested all this time, effort and expense, trying to understand this, only to be told that it is much more complex than this, that what you've been taught are only crude approximations, some of which might be mistaken.
Read 10 tweets
Stephen Barlow Profile picture
3 Mar
1) After having thought about this for a very long time I'm pretty certain that I know what the basic mechanisms are. Essentially, human beings have some evolved weaknesses that powerful people learned to take advantage of to control people for their own ends.
2) Humans evolved to live in societies very different to modern societies. Modern humans and their ancestors evolved to live in small bands of hunter-gatherers, where resources were shared equally, and no one held power.
3) Modern humans (Homo sapiens) emerged as a species 2-300,000 years ago, and our human ancestors existed for several million years prior to this. The first civilizations arose about 6-7,000 years ago, and rule by powerful rulers who held power probably emerged more recently.
Read 43 tweets

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