# Speculating on how much time we really have left - a climate change thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Tags:** climate-change\ **Created:** [March 15, 2026, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculating-on-how-much-time-we-really-have-left-a-climate-change-thread/1028461 "2026-03-15T15:54:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2026, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculating-on-how-much-time-we-really-have-left-a-climate-change-thread/1028461/123 "2026-03-18T22:19:28Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > agreeing for the wealthier countries to help out the less fortunate, as we retrench to higher ground Depending on the nature of the actions, the wealthier countries might cease to be wealthy enough. > [@Dinsdale](#): > > Or, at least, Americans. You really think that drastic actions on consumption would only be unpopular in the United States? I suppose it depends on the nature of the actions and what you consider “drastic.” ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2026, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculating-on-how-much-time-we-really-have-left-a-climate-change-thread/1028461/124 "2026-03-18T22:20:40Z")
Plus, the connection between denial and neofascism isn’t very strong in other countries, especially those that don’t have a large fossil fuel extraction industry. So I think the easier explanation is that there isn’t a necessary link between neofascism and climate denial, let alone a link caused by climate change itself. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2026, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculating-on-how-much-time-we-really-have-left-a-climate-change-thread/1028461/125 "2026-03-18T22:22:40Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > You really think that drastic actions on consumption would only be unpopular in the United States? I suppose it depends on the nature of the actions and what you consider “drastic.” Of course not. But Americans are the people I am most familiar with, and I do believe Americans rank awfully high on most measures of consumption. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2026, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculating-on-how-much-time-we-really-have-left-a-climate-change-thread/1028461/126 "2026-03-18T22:33:50Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > So I think the easier explanation is that there isn’t a necessary link between neofascism and climate denial, let alone a link caused by climate change itself. Not a necessary one, but a natural one because authoritarians of all sorts are prone to try to “solve” problems by either declaring they don’t exist or blaming them on someone they want to target. You saw right wing COVID denialism all over the world, for example. ---
**Author:** ![doomtastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8c91f0/32.png) [@doomtastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doomtastic)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2026, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculating-on-how-much-time-we-really-have-left-a-climate-change-thread/1028461/127 "2026-03-18T23:07:05Z")
> [@JackieLikesVariety](#): > > cleaning up the pollution (aerosols) now means we warm faster, but they were BAD. The aerosols were masking the heating temporarily, but it was still there in a latent sense. The big issue with using more aerosols to dim the sky is it only impacts temperature. It does nothing for the altered weather cycles, ocean acidity, etc. Also, you will have to scale up the amount you are injecting as our emissions continue to increase the amount of co2e in the atmosphere. So it’s at best an emergency stop gap to give us a slightly longer window to tame emissions. That said, I think we’ll likely try it in some form or other once people get desperate enough. Despite it being a terrible idea. ---
**Author:** ![JackieLikesVariety](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackielikesvariety/32/296_2.png) [@JackieLikesVariety](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackieLikesVariety)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2026, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculating-on-how-much-time-we-really-have-left-a-climate-change-thread/1028461/128 "2026-03-19T00:22:34Z")
> [@doomtastic](#): > > I think we’ll likely try it in some form or other once people get desperate enough. Despite it being a terrible idea. I think this goes for lots of high tech solutions. there are way too many variables to safely make these things happen but as a species that’s where we’ll go. wait until desperate and deliberately screw around with our entire biosphere, like we’ve been unintentionally doing for as long as we’ve been around. Interesting Times, though, we got that going for us. ---
**Author:** ![JackieLikesVariety](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackielikesvariety/32/296_2.png) [@JackieLikesVariety](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackieLikesVariety)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2026, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculating-on-how-much-time-we-really-have-left-a-climate-change-thread/1028461/129 "2026-03-19T16:23:51Z")
> [@JackieLikesVariety](#): > > HERE is the issue as far as talking about it. the whole subject is huge and thoughtful people make giant videos PBS terra makes much shorter ones people are more likely to watch. They have a fantastic youtube channel [this winter was the hottest…and the coldest](https://youtube.com/shorts/r8VU1bZdXKA?si=9t4d96bPDmWazqfV) ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2026, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculating-on-how-much-time-we-really-have-left-a-climate-change-thread/1028461/130 "2026-03-19T17:13:39Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > This novel **[The Ministry for the Future - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ministry_for_the_Future)** is interesting for its realistic characterization of climate change consequences. Can reccomend. It opens with a very plausible truly catastrophic but temporary event that kills IIRC 20M people in a week. Which _finally_ serves as a wakeup call the public hears and listens to. So now they demand that something to be done about AGW. Far too late to do much though. > > And right after that moment the book launches off into the world of optimism that the author (Kim Stanley Robinson) is famous for. Suddenly all of humanity grows up, realizes the common good is more important than personal selfishness, and everybody (or nearly everybody) gets on board with shared sacrifice and the abandonment of the capitalist economic “growth is good” model. Returning to this point from a few days back: this isn’t really an accurate representation of the book. The mass death in India doesn’t serve as a wake-up call; the world still does nothing. So India takes it upon themselves to test the aerosol approach. _This_ is what spurs some change, when the rest of the world realizes they need to do something or “rogue” countries like India will go their own way and possibly mess it up for everyone. They form the Ministry for the Future, with the goal of taking into account the impact of things on five (I think?) generations ahead. And even that doesn’t really change much. No one does much more than pay lip service to the change, until the ecoterrorism starts. Planes are brought down by drones until no one is willing to fly, and all jet travel halts. Power plants are attacked, mad cow disease is introduced into the meat supply. It’s really only this, combined with the climate getting worse worldwide, that spurs actual political change. And even that is very difficult; there’s no kumbaya moment for the world at large. I fully agree with you that it portrays a fantasy world given the current world leadership. But it’s not _too_ fantastical. I don’t think the actions in the novel are at all likely, but they are more plausible than your description. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculating-on-how-much-time-we-really-have-left-a-climate-change-thread/1028461.md?page=6)