# Why should I care about climate change/global warming/being green/the environment? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 30, 2011, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-i-care-about-climate-change-global-warming-being-green-the-environment/598121 "2011-09-30T05:58:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-i-care-about-climate-change-global-warming-being-green-the-environment/598121/41 "2011-10-03T15:00:16Z")
> [@nonentity](#): > > None of the arguments makes sense to me. How can I be a bad person for not caring about humans that don’t exist? I’m not saying you’re a bad person. I’m saying, I suppose, that (a) you don’t feel there’s anything worth dying for, but (b) you’ve realized you’ll eventually die. And you’ve also realized that, if you had kids, you _ **would** _ care about their eventual fate to work now for the good of humanity – but absent that, you simply don’t care enough about anything _ **else** _ to struggle and sacrifice for something that will outlive you. I merely think you haven’t thought this all the way through. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-i-care-about-climate-change-global-warming-being-green-the-environment/598121/42 "2011-10-03T15:13:20Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > And you’ve also realized that, if you had kids, you _ **would** _ care about their eventual fate to work now for the good of humanity I guess that’s the way the whole durned human comedy keeps perpetuatin’ itself ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-i-care-about-climate-change-global-warming-being-green-the-environment/598121/43 "2011-10-03T15:27:01Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > Another Republican joins the board. No insults in GD. ---
**Author:** ![ReticulatingSplines](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@ReticulatingSplines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReticulatingSplines)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-i-care-about-climate-change-global-warming-being-green-the-environment/598121/44 "2011-10-03T15:34:06Z")
Why are people ragging on the OP? I know plenty of people who HAVE kids and still don’t give a shit about the environment. Or the future economy. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-i-care-about-climate-change-global-warming-being-green-the-environment/598121/45 "2011-10-03T15:54:41Z")
Because, if you are a compassionate person, you should be bothered by suffering- whether in the past, present, or future. Suffering in the present certainly bothers me, as does suffering in the past. And the prospect of suffering in the future bothers me. Ask yourself this- if an asteroid was spotted, on a collision course with Earth, set to hit us (and wipe out all life) in about 120 years, would you be willing to spend any effort or wealth on diverting its course (assume that the earlier action is taken, the greater the likelihood of success)? ---
**Author:** ![nonentity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eada6e/32.png) [@nonentity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nonentity)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-i-care-about-climate-change-global-warming-being-green-the-environment/598121/46 "2011-10-03T16:11:46Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Ask yourself this- if an asteroid was spotted, on a collision course with Earth, set to hit us (and wipe out all life) in about 120 years, would you be willing to spend any effort or wealth on diverting its course (assume that the earlier action is taken, the greater the likelihood of success)? I wouldn’t live any differently. But if there was an extinction level event asteroid targeting earth in 120 years, then the entire planet and all its resources would be put forth to divert it. So I would probably have to pay more in taxes to for the newly established US Asteroid Defense branch. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-i-care-about-climate-change-global-warming-being-green-the-environment/598121/47 "2011-10-03T16:17:45Z")
> [@nonentity](#): > > I wouldn’t live any differently. > > But if there was an extinction level event asteroid targeting earth in 120 years, then the entire planet and all its resources would be put forth to divert it. So I would probably have to pay more in taxes to for the newly established US Asteroid Defense branch. Again, though, you wrote: _“If I am dead and I have no descendants why should I care about the future of humanity?”_ Possibly I’m misunderstanding you; would you care about the future of humanity if you had descendants? ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-i-care-about-climate-change-global-warming-being-green-the-environment/598121/48 "2011-10-03T16:20:23Z")
> [@ReticulatingSplines](#): > > Why are people ragging on the OP? I know plenty of people who HAVE kids and still don’t give a shit about the environment. Or the future economy. There’s a difference between living in denial, or refusing to believe that the doom and gloom predicitons will come true, and flat out stating that the only thing in the world you care about is extending your own life. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-i-care-about-climate-change-global-warming-being-green-the-environment/598121/49 "2011-10-03T16:21:04Z")
> [@nonentity](#): > > None of the arguments makes sense to me. How can I be a bad person for not caring about humans that don’t exist? Solipsism is no way to go through life, son. ---
**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-i-care-about-climate-change-global-warming-being-green-the-environment/598121/50 "2011-10-03T16:30:01Z")
I do not have, nor ever want children and I am an atheist and yet I care about the well being of the earth and the people here now and to come. Granted I have grown cynical and apathetic, but I still vote. ---
**Author:** ![nonentity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eada6e/32.png) [@nonentity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nonentity)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-i-care-about-climate-change-global-warming-being-green-the-environment/598121/51 "2011-10-03T16:40:26Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Again, though, you wrote: _“If I am dead and I have no descendants why should I care about the future of humanity?”_ Possibly I’m misunderstanding you; would you care about the future of humanity if you had descendants? I assume I would feel differently if I had children. The whole point of procreation is to pass your genes for the betterment of humanity because you believe your offspring can be a fit member of the species. So if I had a child then it would be for this goal and therefore I would care greatly about the future. But I don’t have that biological urge so I will never know. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-i-care-about-climate-change-global-warming-being-green-the-environment/598121/52 "2011-10-03T16:44:47Z")
> [@nonentity](#): > > I assume I would feel differently if I had children. > > The whole point of procreation is to pass your genes for the betterment of humanity because you believe your offspring can be a fit member of the species. So if I had a child then it would be for this goal and therefore I would care greatly about the future. > > But I don’t have that biological urge so I will never know. And you apparently don’t feel compassion, or sympathy, or friendship, or the like? ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-i-care-about-climate-change-global-warming-being-green-the-environment/598121/53 "2011-10-03T16:46:54Z")
> [@Zagzigger](#): > > . . . > **Acid Rain** - was going to kill us all, but faded away . . . Not a good example. Acid rain was mostly caused by coal burning electrical plants and a raft of legislation, including international treaties, in the late eighties and early nineties set up a schedule of knocking it down. It did not fade away. It was regulated into control. > [@nonentity](#): > > And are you aware that a lack of procreating is actually the best thing one can do to save the planet? . . . And we thank you. > [@Czarcasm](#): > > In his own way, the OP has a point. if he doesn’t plan on having children, he may have done more for the ecology than those who watch their carbon emissions and recycle newspaper. See. > [@nonentity](#): > > If I don’t have children why should I care? I’m not really big on whys. Would you be offended if I shift it to how? There’s more than one thread to the how, but one thread is that, apparently, it’s a result of neural mapping. Your brain has to actively create a line in perception and interpretation between what is and isn’t you. You are you because your brain created a map called you.\* And the line is not absolute. When I say that, I mean that you also map the world around you using similar pathways. The phrase “it’s like riding a bicycle” identifies one kind of environment-into-self mapping. Until you have mapped the movement of the bike as if it was an extension of yourself, you’ll have to spend your time concentrating on staying upright instead of on where you want to go. You can get the same “feel” for the car you drive, and have to adjust to driving a different car. You also get the same feel for the people you interact with regularly. And for the environment that you operate in. These things all come to feel like a part of you and often it feels good to think of them going on after you’re gone. It feels like a part of you will continue. Humans are also social, and we have an urge to create narratives, so from there it gets complicated. I’m not really sure that I care whether you, particularly, care about any particular environmental movement. I’d prefer that you didn’t litter or pile up trash until it started supporting a rat colony. But I’m guessing you don’t live near me, so I’m willing to let that be someone else’s problem (hypothetically - I assume your lack of caring for an abstract, global environment hasn’t manifested locally). Now I would prefer that there is enough citizen support for most environmental causes to persuade government, at whatever level, to act as good stewards.\*\* If I had to guess why, I’d guess that it’s a combination of wanting to be a good neighbor and wanting to show competence. That requires a number of people caring, but it doesn’t require that any specific person cares. I’m not doing it for my children, particularly. They’re grown and making their own decisions. If I try to feel what I’m responding to, I keep thinking that a lot of my favorite authors are dead, and that their work came through time to touch me in a positive way. I’ve benefitted from that. It’s probably my social wiring that leads me to feel that since I can’t send benefit back, I should send it forward. * * * - The map can go wrong, too. I think it was an Oliver Sacks book that told how people who had a neurological injury in the area where the self-map was stored could lose a part of that map. Several have come out of anesthesia after surgery and called for a nurse, convinced that someone had sneaked a dead leg into their bed and then panicing when shown that the dead leg had been attached to them. No amount of showing that the leg was alive would convince them that it was theirs. \*\* I’m leaving aside what constitutes good stewardship. Deciding that is a separate issue from caring. ---
**Author:** ![nonentity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eada6e/32.png) [@nonentity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nonentity)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-i-care-about-climate-change-global-warming-being-green-the-environment/598121/54 "2011-10-03T16:47:46Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > And you apparently don’t feel compassion, or sympathy, or friendship, or the like? I do. For living people, not for imaginary people in the far future that don’t yet exist. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-i-care-about-climate-change-global-warming-being-green-the-environment/598121/55 "2011-10-03T17:05:02Z")
> [@](#): > > I do. For living people, not for imaginary people in the far future that don’t yet exist. What if there are living people who might be harmed in the future by climate change/global warming/environmental harm? ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-i-care-about-climate-change-global-warming-being-green-the-environment/598121/56 "2011-10-03T22:02:26Z")
> [@nonentity](#): > > I assume I would feel differently if I had children. > > The whole point of procreation is to pass your genes for the betterment of humanity because you believe your offspring can be a fit member of the species. So if I had a child then it would be for this goal and therefore I would care greatly about the future. > > But I don’t have that biological urge so I will never know. That’s seriously why you think people have kids? That they have kids for the betterment of humanity? That they only have kids because they think their kids will be more fit than other people’s kids. Let’s take this back a bit, because I think you’ve missed a few things. So, first of all, do you know what fucking is? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-i-care-about-climate-change-global-warming-being-green-the-environment/598121.md?page=2)