Thread by @SteB777

1) This thread is about how to see the climate and ecological crisis it is, and why it is not been seen as a crisis.

It's about how to see the big picture clearly, and the obstacles to seeing the big picture and how things actually are. Where we're heading, what needs to change.

2) The most important important part of effective problem solving is properly understanding the problem, which needs to happen with a process of constant re-evaluation. The big problem of our modern culture is just jumping in feet first with our impulsive first impression.

3) Self-evidently the problem with the thinking style our culture has developed is compartmentalization, where we just look at the situation from one perspective, get lost in the detail, and lose sight of the big picture.

4) Since the 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment our governments, the media and politicians have sold this false narrative of progress on addressing the climate, ecological and sustainability crisis.
un.org/en/conferences…

5) Yet a quick check of the trends of environmental impacts demonstrates a continuous ongoing decline in the Earth's biodiversity, increasing habitat loss, increasing GHG emissions, increasing amounts of plastic in the environment etc.

6) These adverse trends continue unabated despite governments, media, vested interests etc, continually trying to talk up progress on addressing these crises. How is this possible? How is it possible for this false narrative to have any credibility?

7) The answer to the above question is very simple. Those pushing this false narrative compartmentalize the situation, cherry pick, and use limited terms of reference, only highlighting their supposed successes, and suppressing evidence of their failures.

8) This is why there is a need to constantly look at the big picture, the summary of everything, not just the limited terms of reference those peddling false narratives want you to look at. You must always look at the actual territory, not the just the map of it being offered.

9) Looking at trends over time is one of the vital parts of understanding both the continued deterioration of our natural systems due to our economic system's over-exploitation of them, and success of any supposed solutions to address the crisis. Look at overall patterns.

10) Detail is important, but we must not get lost in it, where we can no longer see the big picture, where we can longer see the wood for the trees. We must always step back from narratives pushed on his, and climb up a high viewpoint where we can see the overall territory.

11) The term the big picture is often abused to mean the parts of the overall system that the peddlers of false narratives want you to see. Yes, the whole system, the totality of the big picture is massively complex, but the overall trends and their trajectories are not.

12) By trajectory I simply mean where these trends will lead to in the future with business as usual. That is the reality we must look to. Everything else is just smoke and mirrors.

13) I often hear @GretaThunberg say she's puzzled by why people listen to her. I know exactly why anyone not in thrall to false beliefs and ideology is so moved by Greta's analysis. She unerringly keeps to the bounds of what she knows for certain. She never over-extends herself.

14) Over-extending yourself, going beyond the boundary of what you can be fairly certain of, into the bounds of wishful thinking is the deadly failing of our modern culture. It is why science deniers are forced to lie.

15) @GretaThunberg's haters say, but what does Greta know, she isn't a scientist. She doesn't have to be, when like Greta, you just stick to the summaries of the best science available to humankind. You only have to be very knowledgeable if you dispute those scientific summaries.

16) @GretaThunberg is an exemplar of how to see the climate and ecological crisis, the sustainability crisis. That is to first look at the overall situation in terms of what moderate summaries of science tell us about the overall big picture.

17) Our lives, our societies, our economy, our civilization, all life on Earth, can only exist in the context of what is possible within the bounds of the laws of nature and physics. We cannot go beyond this with wishful thinking. This is what I mean by over-extending yourself.

18) In response to being told about the parameters of the climate and ecological crisis, those partly in denial will say but what about jobs, people will never except that, we need progress and development #blahblahblah. All totally irrelevant.

19) What is possible in terms of our lives, lifestyles, economic growth etc, are the planetary boundaries @jrockstrom or within @KateRaworth's the doughnut. Any trying to live outside this will just result in eventual collapse - it's unsustainable.
kateraworth.com/doughnut/

20) It's not a hard concept to understand. Everyone is taught about how to live within their financial means. But bizarrely our modern system is founded on trying to live beyond our ecological means, to live the planetary boundaries.

21) The principles of how to correctly see the current situation are clear and simple enough. It only becomes complex if you want to have your cake and eat it. To persist with business as usual, even if the trajectory of it extends well outside the planetary boundaries.

22) The primary obstacle to seeing things clear are not learning something amazing and knew, but not to be misled by false ideas and false narratives. Here I come to the real problem, the real obstacle.

23) A relatively small proportion of our population lead incredibly extravagant lifestyles, with a much higher carbon and consumption footprint. This is strongly correlated with wealth.
theguardian.com/environment/20…

24) The problem is that virtually all the most powerful and influential people in our societies are all much wealthier than the vast majority. The control everything and make all the decisions. They do not want to give up their lifestyles.

25) Therefore this all powerful minority, will only accept change, solutions, that allow them to maintain their lifestyles and status. That is why the simple big picture view of the overall situation and problem is blocked and denied.

26) It is impossible to say how much of this obstruction and distraction from the core problem is conscious or unconscious. Someone in an influential position is unlikely to admit to using knowingly false arguments to distract from the problem.

27) However, we've no need to guess at how much of this is conscious and unconscious. The facts are clear, the well off are not motivated to consider options based on less extravagant consumption.

28) We only need to know this problem, this obstacle exists, not to be judgemental, and engage in blame, just to note the bias and firmly challenge those using false arguments, because of self-interest.

29) The overall problem and difficulty is this is a latent and dynamic obstacle to the thinking in our modern societies. The clearer some try to highlight the problem and the solution, the more those with power will try to muddy the waters.

30) It's not just a case of pointing out the thinking error and all will be solved, because the harder we try, the more those who feel entitled to their extravagant lifestyles will prevaricate, equivocate and misdirect. They have the means and the power to misdirect discourse.

@GretaThunberg @GeorgeMonbiot @ClimateHuman @JKSteinberger @KevinClimate

@threadreaderapp Please unroll?

PS. I'm sorry if the conclusion is a bit compressed, as when I was finishing the second half, I accidentally hit a key on my laptop and lost the whole second part of the thread and had to re-write it. So it ended up being a bit truncated as I had other things to attend to.