One of the huge problems with the climate and ecological crisis, is the vast majority of people, don't really understand what it means at all. Those who do understand the problem, often don't get how little most people really grasp the problem.
A very long time ago, I realised the real problem here was one of perception. One of the huge and misleading myths of our culture is that everyone sees things in a similar way, just some don't understand it as well as other people do.
This whole idea that people broadly see things in the same way, and it is just the degree of understanding, which varies is profoundly mistaken. It's not that some people just don't quite get it, but a lot have profoundly false views about the world we live in.
As I've often said, thinking is like following a set of directions. If when you are thinking and reasoning, you take a wrong turn early on, you will end up in an entirely different direction and region than you were supposed to be heading.
Imagine you are supposed to be going somewhere about a 100 miles away. That you come to a major road that travels north to south and that instead of heading north where, you accidentally turn south. You will be heading in completely the wrong direction.
This is how people get lost. If they have taken a wrong turning without realising, they will get hopelessly lost and disorientated.
Unfortunately, with reasoning, when a lot of people take a wrong turn with their thinking, they never realise this, and they create a whole alternate reality, totally detached from actual reality. Where no one notices, because all those they know have the same false beliefs.
It isn't that many, or most people just don't quite get the climate and ecological emergency, they live in a wholly different reality, where this problem just doesn't exist.
A simple example of this are average temperature rises. People see talk about a 2C, 3C or 4C temperature rise, and most people say, what's the big deal? This is because they have no concept of average temperatures.
The vast majority of people only understand weather. They have no idea what climate is. So they mistakenly think a 3C rise in global average temperatures, will just mean on a given day, it will be 22C instead of 19C, and think what is the big deal?
It seems absurd to anyone that understands it. But they don't realise that the vast majority of people have no idea what the climate is, and why it matters. They have never stopped for one moment in their whole life to consider what the difference between weather and climate is.
This is why the stupid climate change denier meme, "the climate is always changing", has so much traction. Because most people don't understand the difference between weather and climate, and so they mistakenly think the climate changes every day, every hour.
In surveys, opinion polls, they will ask people what they think or believe about climate change. It is an absurd question, when the vast majority of people don't even know what is meant by the climate, let alone what a change in it actually means.
As someone who is not only a graduate in ecology, but who actually thinks ecologically, I am painfully aware of how few people even know what ecological thinking is, let alone what it means to see things ecologically.
@threadreaderapp Please unroll?

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Stephen Barlow

Stephen Barlow Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @SteB777

15 Sep
Hi @guardian @guardianeco this is a straw man argument, there never was this battle of the generations your article implies. Yes, you might supposedly be reporting research, but you present it uncritically. It involves classic cherry-picking.
theguardian.com/environment/20…
The conflict is between certain members of the older generation i.e. the powerful, very wealthy, heads of vested interests, the 1% or a lots less, who obstruct action to address the climate and ecological crisis, because it is contrary to their vested interest.
By their very nature, the extremely wealthy, the powerful, the very influential in terms of the positions they hold, are usually older. Usually someone is not in that position until at least into their late 30s and usually much older.
Read 12 tweets
13 Sep
I want to try and define what I mean by "ecological ignorance".

It appears all arguments that we can carry on with business as usual, adapt to climate breakdown and merely use technology to overcome the climate crisis, are based on "ecological ignorance".
All arguments that the climate and ecological crisis, is not an actual crisis, and that we can carry on with business as usual, appear to have one thing in common - "profound ecological ignorance". Both the arguments, and those using them, appear to be ecologically ignorant.
What I mean by this is that those using these arguments, appear to have no knowledge at all of how ecosystems function and how they sustain us. They seem to be unaware that this knowledge even exists. It is in fact, the classic Dunning-Kruger Effect.
Read 34 tweets
11 Sep
I entirely support the position of @ClimateHuman as spelled out in both his excellent article and thread here.

Essentially what I mean, is I support both his criticism of "net zero by 2050" being pursued by most governments, and the need for an emergency response.
This Net Zero by 2050 framing being pursued by governments around the world relies on promises action will be taken in the distant future, rather than now, and the invention of magical technology, which doesn't yet exist, and which might never exist.
Given we have known how to address the climate crisis for over 30 years, with simple mitigation i.e. just phasing out the burning and extraction of fossil fuels, it appears to be dangerous and irrational for us to rely magical technological fixes, that don't exist.
Read 24 tweets
8 Sep
This story merely confirms that the UK government is not actually even genuine, let alone serious about the climate and ecological crisis. Boris Johnson's government are merely posturing and pretending to be concerned in a PR exercise.
theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/s…
Boris Johnson's former climate envoy to COP26 said this about Boris Johnson:

“He has admitted to me he doesn’t really understand it [climate change] – he doesn’t really get it, I think is what he said.”
independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi…
This is all very believable considering Johnson's utterings on the climate crisis throughout his political career and the lack of any credible plan to address the climate and ecological emergency, which appears to be little more than a few token gestures.
forbes.com/sites/davekeat…
Read 5 tweets
7 Sep
"Pollution is the physical manifestation of corruption."

Can there ever be a better example of something that is self-evidently absolutely true, but no one ever says or acknowledges?
Pollution is obviously something gone wrong. Yes, it can be an accident, sometimes the effect of pollution or a pollutant is not realised until later.

However, in an honest system, pollution would be immediately recognised as a problem, and the government, would act.
If a government allows pollution to continue, when it has an obvious deleterious effect on human health or the natural environment. Especially if the government actively participates in concealing the problem, covering it up - IT IS A CLEAR INDICATOR THE GOVERNMENT IS CORRUPT.
Read 23 tweets
6 Sep
I'm leading a Late Summer Walk on Fenns and Whixall Moss NNR on this Saturday 11 September. There are still places available, and there are 3 other events at the same time. It is advertised on @ShropsWildlife Events page.
shropshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/events/summer-…
The Late Summer Walk is a general walk to look at the transition from late summer to autumn. We will be going from Morris's Bridge Car Park, Whixall out to the new viewing platform, the Mammoth Tower, and then out to the old Peat Works.
Things we will probably see are high summer dragonflies like Common Hawkers, Black Darters along with Brimstone butterflies. It's a transition period between the summer visitor birds, gathering to leave and ducks and waders returning to the Moss in numbers.
Read 4 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(