We could have focused on public transport, but we didn't (better late than never?)
Many could have chosen to not eat meat (they chose the opposite)
We could have got serious about reducing plastic pollution.
We could have saved many species from extinction.
We could have chosen a different option than that long-distance recreational drive in a combustion engine vehicle.
A sustainable future could have been a reality
"we" didn't make it happen!
Better late than never?
It's not all doom and gloom, we have to keep a positive outlook on the future and make individual positive changes that reduce our impact on the planet and be wary of big gov fascist control solutions for climate change.
There is a common form of toxic positivity where people can't accept that they're causing harm - when the harmful activity is associated with an activity they want to do.
"make individual positive changes that reduce our impact on the planet"
I've just about done that & many of the changes have been healthy for me (plus reduced my living costs so I work fewer hours).
The is no 'toxic positivity', the future is bright and full of abundance for the people that love the planet, love humanity, love innovation and technology.
There are toxic minded people that are in fear, hate humanity and want to live in a state of scarcity.
But the real danger is big gov fascism trying to micro manage daily individuals activity for the sake of "reducing harmful activity".
@empiricism I don't know how old are you, but some "adults" have no money to switch heating system nor to pay the monthly bills for electricity or gas. It's no a matter "evidence" but economic reality.
The online definition of Toxic positivity"
> is the belief that people should maintain a positive mindset no matter how dire or difficult a situation is, rejecting all difficult emotions in favor of a cheerful and often falsely-positive façade.
...
> To stop toxic positivity, clarify what you want from your conversation partner.
I don't know what you mean by 'Toxic positivity' in the context of this discussion, I was maybe wrongly assuming it was wishful thinking.
Toxic positivity is caused by wish based thinking. For example, in the #UK, I've spoken to many adults that believed or continue to believe that the ruling conservative party is doing something about #ClimateChange (they want to believe that)
Another phrase for toxic possitivity is false hope (faith without proof). It also causes confirmation bias. People focus on the small positive things the government (says) it is doing, but ignore the much larger negative general trends.
@empiricism Any meaningful impact to tackle climate change won't come from big gov, politician main job is to get reelected and to funnel tax money to their backers though shady big gov contracts (some are under the marketing term of Climate Change™)
If you're passionate of the issue of wood burning, then you should study and come up with better efficient cost effective heating system.
That's how we transform the negative aspects of our impact on the planet to positive ones.
Most of modern amenities
didn't exist 50 years ago, through innovation, technology and mass scale production those amenities become part of our normal daily life.
Haven't you heard of heat pumps?
The #UK #conservative Gov did "promise" to not do enough to insulate more UK homes & install more heat pumps - but now #RishiSunak has "rolled back" the not doing enough about air pollution therefore #ClimateChange plan.
There is a need for systems even more energy efficient then heat pumps, the electricity bill hurts when you start using them on cold months.
But they are better then fuel furnace heating.
Of course, it depends on the local average temperature conditions.
The good news is that in the #UK heat pumps are suitable
"most air source heat pumps will only keep working to around -10°C but some will keep working as low as -20°C. It's rare, however, that temperatures drop to these extremes in the UK" https://www.homebuilding.co.uk/advice/do-heat-pumps-work-in-cold-weather
We need a suitable government.
"#Sunak U-turn on green policies forces #Labour to revise its own"
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/sep/20/sunak-u-turn-on-green-policies-puts-labour-in-difficult-position
@empiricism Tbh i do not use such grandiose language. I simply call such peeps, if i'm in an unusually good mood, *gullible*, or if i'm in my usual grumpy mood i call them *idiots*.
Well yes, but l like to be more specific because idiots believe that the people who have developed a more general intelligence are idiots.
Comparative #psychology, is a sheep aware that it's comparably, to humans, not as intelligent? (of course not)
Having said that many humans probably believe that sheep are "dumb" because they "follow" one another.
But, sheep follow the herd because that is evolutionarily adaptive.
Why do many humans cluster into faith-minded groups?
@voidabyss
It's better to explain toxic positivity with an example.
For example, many times I've mentioned to adults that smoke pollution harms chidren health.
Now, if these adults did not have any personal vested interests in activities that emitted wood smoke, there is a higher probabilty that they'd accomodate the medical evidence. BUT, because all these adults had home wood burners, they can not tollerate what the evidence implies.
They're hopefully wrong & it's harming their children