Thread by @ClimateHuman

Let's talk about how to tell when society is shifting out of attempting to continue "business as usual" and into "climate emergency mode."

The most important litmus test: When politicians start standing up to the fossil fuel industry. As a baseline, we haven't even ended fossil fuel subsidies yet! Politicians are still allowing your taxpayer dollars to subsidize and expand the most deadly industry on the planet.

When/if politicians start ending fossil fuel subsidies you'll know we are finally starting to head in the right direction as a society.

Same goes with a moratorium on new fossil fuel buildout. We are in a climate emergency that is caused by burning fossil fuels. Anyone who accepts that we are in an emergency knows how insane it is to expand drilling and build new fossil-fueled power plants etc.

This is why China's announcement that it will not be building new coal plants abroad was so huge. Yes, it's a small step, but it is a step aimed at actually reducing the fossil fuel industry globally, and that's the key thing.

Meanwhile, in the US, Biden is still doing what he can to expand the fossil fuel industry. That is not remotely "climate emergency mode."

Another litmus test will be when frequent flyer programs are banned. We need policies and programs that discourage overconsumption of fossil fuels, not programs that encourage overconsumption of fossil fuels. That's not climate emergency mode.

This next one will be hard for a lot of people to hear, but frankly, so long as commercial aviation continues to grow exponentially, we are NOT in climate emergency mode as as society.

The aviation industry is a litmus test for climate emergency mode. While we do need to travel (I'd count that as a need, yes) we don't need to fly in planes to do so (I'd count that as a convenience or privilege). Yes society would need to shift norms for this... that's the point

Switching from gassers to EVs isn't even really an "ask" because EVs are so great. On the other hand there's no replacement for commercial aviation let alone a better one. Seeing policies to reign it in getting passed would indicate a clear shift toward emergency mode.

Another litmus test: When the politicians stop talking about big distant goals like "net zero by 2050" and instead start giving year-by-year plans on how the fossil fuel industry will be diminished and ultimately ended, that will sound a shift into emergency mode.

Also, when everyone realizes what a deadly scam "net zero" is, and climate plans center instead on ramping down emissions, that will sound a shift into emergency mode.
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

Similarly when carbon offsets are no longer a thing. Offsets are a way for people to deal with guilt and for organizations to deal with social pressure, without actually reducing emissions (when of course reducing emissions is exactly what has to happen).

A few more:
✅When every university is divested from fossil fuels (and acts like they were always divestment's best friend)
✅When fossil fuel executives and their lobbyist and PR cronies stand trial at The Hague for ecocide
✅When ecocide is a thing

✅When courts start routinely deciding in favor of lawsuits for climate lies and climate inaction
✅When media outlets start refusing to run fossil fuel ads
✅When it becomes cool to take reasonable steps to burn less bc fossil fuels are widely viewed as deadly
...

There are more, but you get the idea. When the social license of fossil fuel has been revoked, and when policies are aimed not just at building out renewables but also at reducing fossil fuels, you will know society is shifting to climate emergency mode. It will feel awesome.