this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2024
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Discussion of climate, how it is changing, activism around that, the politics, and the energy systems change we need in order to stabilize things.

As a starting point, the burning of fossil fuels, and to a lesser extent deforestation and release of methane are responsible for the warming in recent decades: Graph of temperature as observed with significant warming, and simulated without added greenhouse gases and other anthropogentic changes, which shows no significant warming

How much each change to the atmosphere has warmed the world: IPCC AR6 Figure 2 - Thee bar charts: first chart: how much each gas has warmed the world.  About 1C of total warming.  Second chart:  about 1.5C of total warming from well-mixed greenhouse gases, offset by 0.4C of cooling from aerosols and negligible influence from changes to solar output, volcanoes, and internal variability.  Third chart: about 1.25C of warming from CO2, 0.5C from methane, and a bunch more in small quantities from other gases.  About 0.5C of cooling with large error bars from SO2.

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[–] solsangraal@lemmy.zip 41 points 3 months ago (4 children)

the article misses the mentality of the mega wealthy. the reason the guy with the 300K boat isn't happy is because hes thinking about the guy with the 400K boat. that guy also isn't happy because of the 500K boat guy, and so on. what matters to them is having the most shit to flaunt, and if you're a poor, then you're making a mistake if you think you even exist to them in any capacity other than as a potential tool to make them more money

[–] alvvayson@lemmy.dbzer0.com 29 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I think the latest insights are showing that it is more than just that though.

Extreme wealth also leads to mental health issues. Paranoia (leading Zuckerberg to build a $260M bunker in Hawaii), god complexes (people like Trump and Bloomberg running for president) and just general anti-social tendencies, like Musk buying twitter and impregnating SpaceX employees.

Pedophilia also deserves a special mention. Look a level deeper at the Epstein situation. Note that they were mostly after post-pubescent young girls, so it wasn't the "I am attracted to pre-pubescent kids" type of pedophilia, but the "I am so powerful, I'm going to eat the forbidden fruit" type of pedophilia.

There should definitely be a cap on wealth.

[–] oxomoxo@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I think this is more of a correlation != causation issue. I think it’s more likely that the kinds of people who have the traits to seek obscene wealth also tend to be people with a higher probability for mental health issues.

IMO to be driven to collect as much power and money as possible is harmful to both one’s self and those around you.

[–] alvvayson@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 3 months ago (1 children)

A lot, I dare even say most, of these people are born into wealth though.

The more rags to riches type of people tend to be more normal.

[–] oxomoxo@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Very true, however that fact seems to support the idea that those who seek wealth are from families who also sought wealth, and it may be, in many cases, that it is a genetic predisposition. Which also supports the idea that it’s possible that this could be a mental illness passed generationally. We just don’t attribute the behavior to mental health due the cultural conditioning that wealth is good.

I mean no one thinks eating, and eating consistently and reliably is bad, but when you see someone eating everything they can get their hands on, most people would agree that’s bad. Obese children are often born into obese families…

[–] alvvayson@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 3 months ago

Fair enough. The old nature vs nurture strikes again.

As a counterpoint, DNA gets very diluted very quickly, so someone like Prince Andrew has basically zero DNA in common with the earliest English kings.

On the other hand, that's one of the most f-d up family trees in the world, so just the inbreeding could explain a lot.

[–] iamdisillusioned@lemmy.world 18 points 3 months ago

So true. My boss makes about a million a year and gets whiny whenever we deal with clients that make more than him. He has plenty of money but that will never buy the parental love that he didn't get as a child.

[–] Maeve@kbin.earth 15 points 3 months ago (3 children)

I thought these paragraphs addressed that:

To own and run a 35ft boat of that kind, you need to be extremely rich. It retails at about £300,000, on top of which are the extraordinary costs of mooring, winter storage, maintenance and fuel. Isn’t money of that kind supposed to buy you pleasure? If not, what’s the point?

Extreme wealth can severely hamper enjoyment. As Michael Mechanic documents in his book, Jackpot, there are two groups of people who have to think about money all the time: the very poor and the very rich. Immense wealth possesses you just as much as you possess it: managing it becomes a full-time job. You don’t know whom to trust; you can start to imagine your friends aren’t friends at all; it can dominate and poison your family relationships. It can hollow you out, socially, intellectually and morally.

But I think there might be a further corroding aspect of wealth that hasn’t been widely discussed. Great wealth flattens the world. If you can go anywhere and do anything, everything is over the horizon. You speed past the local and the particular, towards an endlessly escalating ideal of luxury: the better marina, the bigger yacht, the private jet, the super-home. The satisfaction horizon can retreat before you. Place has no meaning, other than as a setting that might impress the friends you no longer trust. But anyone who is impressed by money is not worth impressing.

[–] catch22@startrek.website 6 points 3 months ago (1 children)
[–] Maeve@kbin.earth 4 points 3 months ago

So the unwanting soul sees what’s hidden, and the ever-wanting soul sees only what it wants.

Tao te Ching, Le Guin

[–] solsangraal@lemmy.zip 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

pretty much, yep, except for the general disdain/disgust for the have-nots

[–] Maeve@kbin.earth 1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

~~Wecan fix that attitude by making them "commoners." Tax them harder.~~

Edited because looking at large swaths of voting poor, nevermind.

[–] Infynis@midwest.social 2 points 3 months ago

If managing your wealth is a full-time job, just hire another person. If getting whatever you want doesn't make you happy, it's not the money's fault, you just don't know what you want. Do some self-actualizing and try again on Monday

[–] Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Thats not the mentality of the mega wealthy, thats a childs mentality (it applies to the simplest/cheapest of things all the ssame, and you can recognise the same behaviour in adolescent animals as well) - however the rest of us are forced to grow up.

And it's also why some people are able to stop working (and stop investing too) once they have enough for a normal life with reasonable comfort ... which is often financial security & personal health (ie less or no stress) more than things like having 5 maids/a new boat/showing off money for the sake if it.

But what I just described I feel like should be the goal of humanity, a goal for us to collectively achieve for all humans. We have enough production power I'm sure, it's our cultural stagnation that betrays us.

[–] Maeve@kbin.earth 0 points 3 months ago

But what I just described I feel like should be the goal of humanity, a goal for us to collectively achieve for all humans. We have enough production power I'm sure, it's our cultural stagnation that betrays us.

Key word: collectively. It seems it would take more stress and energy to hoard and guard, than simply work to the benefit of everyone. There will always be outliers, on either axis. I don't really think that matters, in terms of achievement.