There is no power on this Earth that can resist an idea whose time has come

by Volker Weber

We should be raising climate change as a topic of conversation with everyone we can. Just say a little something to promote empathy and compassion and to get rid of this mentality of ‘I’m alright Jack, bugger the rest of you’. We can hope they’ll then say a little something to someone else and the residual dinosaurs will eventually realise they’re out of step and it’s not socially acceptable to behave that way anymore.

Good reading.

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Comments

I think it is not just about the veracity of the idea; also the context in which it is being raised.

I used to be much involved with demos, petitions, letter-writing etc on the subject of climate change and environmental degradation, thirty+ years ago (when even I was quite young). The problem was that, in the total absence of interest from large broadcasters and national newspapers, it was really hard to communicate what we were doing beyond a very local level, so the impact was small.

What has changed now - what makes the difference for the impact of the conversation - is social media and instant communication. Instead of spending a week getting 200 people to sign a petition and maybe traipsing down to London to deliver it, you can get 100,000 in a day and be sure it gets in front of the right people; instead of gathering 50 people for a demonstration you can bring together thousands, simultaneously, worldwide - thus, the entire planet has heard the name Greta Thunberg.

It may be a very late call, but the planet is now technologically prepared to hear it.

Nick Daisley, 2019-05-16

Sadly the debate is so old. In the 80ies we had a common movement against plastic bags called "Jute statt Plastik", plans for renewable energy etc.

Christian Just, 2019-05-17

I think there is a different urgency this time.

Volker Weber, 2019-05-17

Old vowe.net archive pages

I explain difficult concepts in simple ways. For free, and for money. Clue procurement and bullshit detection.

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