Originally Posted by
fineline
If we are to prevail in achieving a sustainable version of a modern, advanced civilisation we will need to teach kids who will spend the prime of their careers between now and a mid-century "net-zero" economy to:
(a) understand the climate itself, which is an aggregation of the weather
(b) hence a need to understand meteorology
© appreciate observable meteorological phenomena - cloud formations, wind speed and precipitation
(d) reason about how these relate to numerical data - temperature, pressure and humidity
(e) understand energy systems, the accumulation, conservation and conversion of energy
(f) understand power systems - engines, motors, and storage - legacy and emerging
(g) get a feel for why any of this matters - what the difference is between how we live now and the middle ages
(h) make it interesting, get their attention and make them care
I can't think of a better way to inspire this kind of thinking than an air show.
OR:
Just teach them "who's to blame", "who to vote for" and "how to feel depressed, scared and helpless" in the face of the challenges we face.
I guess the second one is easier and cheaper - why "educate" when you can settle for "indoctrinate".
I have these conversations a lot, with people who think "climate change" (a convenient proxy for the broader challenge of maintaining a sustainable civilisation going forward) is a "political" or "moral" issue. Saves having to actually do the sums, face up to the biggest "technical" challenge we have yet faced, and raise our kids accordingly.
I have great faith in the innovative and creative capacity of humanity to take on challenges such as this, but boy does that faith take a hit on a regular basis when I see intellectually lazy, morally cowardly nonsense like this.
Couldn’t agree with this post more. The black and white naive thinking of the Covid response will be catastrophic when it comes to climate change. It appears that IS exactly what we are doing. Induce maximum fear, spend maximum dollars and produce suboptimal results, whilst a few just get richer in the process. The need for people to seek comfort in their tribe instead of actually using their brain is the biggest threat we have to humanity now.