Judge Janet joins us at the top of the hour and gives her honest reaction to yesterday’s debate along with reflections on how the campaign cycle has been thus far.
Then Greg, Kristin, and Jane opine on the newly coined term, “doomerism”.
Guests: Greg Bach, Janet Protasiewicz
Check out this episode on Spotify and Apple Podcasts!
Fresh off the spicy debate, Judge Janet Protasiewicz joins us for the first segment to give her reactions to the discussion, tell us how the campaign trail has been, and remind everyone to make sure you vote on April 4th!
Once again, scientists are telling us: we are running out of time. If humanity wants to avoid a Mad Max-like future, the world needs to act now to rein in climate change, a new UN-backed report stressed. “The climate time bomb is ticking,” said United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres. “Humanity is on thin ice—and that ice is melting fast,” he added for dramatic effect.
A United Nations report released this week warns Earth is on track to reach a critical global warming threshold within the next decade. Hundreds of scientists from around the world worked together to create the report. One finding is that the panel has “very high confidence” in? “There is a rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a livable and sustainable future for all.” Cue Lloyd Christmas saying, “So you’re telling me there’s a chance?”
Greenhouse gases need to be reduced by 50% by 2030 to keep climate change within 1.5 degrees Celsius of pre-industrial levels—and so far, the world is on track to miss this target. By the early 2050s, we’d need to reach net zero CO2 emissions to stick to the goal.
So, the question becomes: How do you hear that warning and not feel impending doom?
Wikipedia defines Doomers – Doomer and, by extension, doomerism – as people who are extremely pessimistic or fatalistic about global problems such as overpopulation, peak oil, climate change, and pollution. Some doomers assert there is a possibility these problems will bring about human extinction.
Recently, this fairly new term has joined the zeitgeist and people have feelings about it.
In the wake of everyone analyzing the state of teenagers’ mental health, The Washington Post’s Taylor Lorenz tweeted that it’s not the phones but that it’s ‘delusional’ to have any hope for America.
And, then came the rebuttal to that argument from a lot of different places, including Tim Miller of The Bulwark:
Here is some more reading on Doomerism and why we shouldn’t be so pessimistic:
