There is this prevailing narrative – and a lot of it is being pushed by the fossil fuel industry and their enablers – that climate action is too difficult, it’s too expensive
The thing is, adequately addressing the climate crisis is going to be very difficult and expensive. We should do it anyway, because if we don’t the consequences are likely to be severe, but I don’t think we should lie to people and say it’s going to be cheap and easy. This is going to be hard. Really hard. This is our moonshot, only many times more difficult. But that’s exactly why we should do it.
Somewhere along the line, we turned into a country that is afraid of doing anything too difficult. We used to do things because they were difficult, now we shy away from anything that’s even remotely challenging. Do people remember JFK’s ‘We Choose To Go To The Moon’ speech?
We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win
What happened to us? I think I answered my own question: we need leaders who can inspire people to take on incredible challenges. We need someone who will stand up in front of the American people and say, “yes, addressing climate change is going to be hard, and that’s exactly why we are going to do it! We can do it, we must do it, we will do it.”
Late stage capitalism happened to us. Big money saw the writing on the wall as we got smarter and more ambitious and progressive as a people and said “not in my backyard”.
it was a different time. people did things because they were hard because they themselves were harder. they were also teamed together, opposite of now. people use to get worried if the city over got the new jobs, not the country over.
Yeah it’s going to be very expensive. Not nearly as expensive as not doing it, but more immediately expensive. And the longer we hold off the more expensive and difficult it gets and the less resources we’ll have to do it with. We should have taken it seriously before I was born, but we need to now
Is America not the country that claims to be the greatest on earth? Why would we not do this then? Why should we not lead by example and show the world what can be done? This world has done so much for America, it’s time we ask not what the world can do for America but what America can do for the world. And worst case scenario, we get cheaper energy and a cleaner country.
Not only that but the entire Apollo program was about to be scrapped before the CIA fucked up the bay of pigs invasion.
Two days after the Gagarin flight on 12 April,
Kennedy discussed once again the possibility of a
lunar landing program with Webb, but the NASA
head’s conservative estimates of a cost of more than
$20 billion for the project was too steep and Kennedy
delayed making a decision. A week later, at the time of
the Bay of Pigs invasion, Kennedy called Johnson,
who headed the National Aeronautics and Space
Council, to the White House to discuss strategy for
catching up with the Soviets in space. Johnson agreed
to take the matter up with the Space Council and to rec-
ommend a course of action. It is likely that one of the
explicit programs that Kennedy asked Johnson to con-
sider was a lunar landing program, for the next day, 20
April 1961, he followed up with a memorandum to
Johnson raising fundamental questions about the proj-
ect. In particular, Kennedy asked
Do we have a chance of beating the Soviets by
putting a laboratory in space, or by a trip
around the moon, or by a rocket to go to the
moon and back with a man? Is there any other
space program that promises dramatic results
in which we could win?
They needed a win so they pivoted to the space program. Kennedy didn’t approve that program “because it is hard” and he was a great man. He approved it because he was desperate for anything to show some kind of leadership and superiority over the soviets and communism and the space program seemed to have the only thing left.
Don’t get me wrong I think JFK was a great president but people shouldn’t make him out for something he’s not.
The thing is, adequately addressing the climate crisis is going to be very difficult and expensive. We should do it anyway, because if we don’t the consequences are likely to be severe, but I don’t think we should lie to people and say it’s going to be cheap and easy. This is going to be hard. Really hard. This is our moonshot, only many times more difficult. But that’s exactly why we should do it.
Somewhere along the line, we turned into a country that is afraid of doing anything too difficult. We used to do things because they were difficult, now we shy away from anything that’s even remotely challenging. Do people remember JFK’s ‘We Choose To Go To The Moon’ speech?
What happened to us? I think I answered my own question: we need leaders who can inspire people to take on incredible challenges. We need someone who will stand up in front of the American people and say, “yes, addressing climate change is going to be hard, and that’s exactly why we are going to do it! We can do it, we must do it, we will do it.”
Late stage capitalism happened to us. Big money saw the writing on the wall as we got smarter and more ambitious and progressive as a people and said “not in my backyard”.
Goddamn, I love that speech every time I hear or read it.
Edit: unsaladed the thing.
it was a different time. people did things because they were hard because they themselves were harder. they were also teamed together, opposite of now. people use to get worried if the city over got the new jobs, not the country over.
Yeah it’s going to be very expensive. Not nearly as expensive as not doing it, but more immediately expensive. And the longer we hold off the more expensive and difficult it gets and the less resources we’ll have to do it with. We should have taken it seriously before I was born, but we need to now
Is America not the country that claims to be the greatest on earth? Why would we not do this then? Why should we not lead by example and show the world what can be done? This world has done so much for America, it’s time we ask not what the world can do for America but what America can do for the world. And worst case scenario, we get cheaper energy and a cleaner country.
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There are tons of profits. They are just in the hands of people like Musk/Bezos.
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Again, just not true. From before the pandemic (2019) to now, profits have increased by about 25 percent.
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Not only that but the entire Apollo program was about to be scrapped before the CIA fucked up the bay of pigs invasion.
https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/sp-4503-apollo.pdf
They needed a win so they pivoted to the space program. Kennedy didn’t approve that program “because it is hard” and he was a great man. He approved it because he was desperate for anything to show some kind of leadership and superiority over the soviets and communism and the space program seemed to have the only thing left.
Don’t get me wrong I think JFK was a great president but people shouldn’t make him out for something he’s not.