I know this is not 'on message', but 2080 is a long way off. Around 70 years. Most of the people now alive on the planet will not be by then. Our politicians, used to a short term 5 year cycle of responsibility and concentration on social dogma are simply not set up for climatic considerations on a 70 year time frame, or a 50 year one or even 10 years. They may say they care, and some probably do on a visceral level. But they care much less about what seems to be quite a minor change (perhaps evan an improvement for many in northern latitudes) than they do about their day-to-day political survival. 'Yes, I know that the world will warm up but the voters will kick me out if I tax them too heavily to change their behaviour'. Quite, and that's where the problem lies. Changes we are making are occurring at a glacial speed (sorry, the speed that glaciers used to exhibit when there were glaciers) and the political priorities remain (a) keep my parliamentary/EU seat (b) do nothing to rock the party boat so that I gain promotion (c) make as much money as I can while I am in parliament.
We need better than this, but the system is not set up to allow for longer term thinking. Like the City, all is short-term, next week, next month, next year. Never next decade or half century.
We need better than this, but the system is not set up to allow for longer term thinking. Like the City, all is short-term, next week, next month, next year. Never next decade or half century.
