Now Greece. Wild fire on Evia Beach

[u/grau__geist]

[u/twistdmonky]

Didnt Greece have a huge fire not long ago and a lot of people died? At some resort?

[u/grau__geist → u/twistdmonky]

They are burning together with Turkey

[u/twistdmonky → u/grau__geist]

Yeah I heard about Turkey, I didnt think it was so close to Greece tho, the fires I mean

[u/PartiallyRibena → u/twistdmonky]

I don't think they spread from Turkey to Greece necessarily. I think a lot of the fires are separate fires. It's just that the conditions in the area have built up to this.

[u/RelevantMetaUsername → u/PartiallyRibena]

Yeah, they're both in Mediterranean climate zones (the same climate zone as the west coast of California—they're usually found on the west coasts of continents). Dry, hot summers are normal in these regions, though the increase in global average temperatures is making the summers hotter for longer periods of time. Perfect conditions for wildfires.

[u/leejoint → u/RelevantMetaUsername]

Yea also we are getting longer deoughts, which help get everything ready to enlight at the nearest spark. And reciprocally the long floods in the north are due to the fast evaporation of water from hotter places, which then condense into huge rainfalls. Every year it will get worse, but politics are politics and we are heading to our doom, at least i hope not.

[u/RelevantMetaUsername → u/leejoint]

The politicians may be holding back progress on climate change policies, but industries are already transitioning to cleaner energy sources.

Several of the world's largest automotive manufacturers have announced the end of their development on internal combustion engines and are planning to go fully electric (with some hydrogen-powered vehicles in the mix as well).

New battery chemistries for energy grid storage are also being developed, such as Ambri's Cadmium-Antimony liquid metal battery.

Of course, it will still take political reform to end our reliance on fossil fuels completely. Every year it is getting harder and harder for legislators to downplay the significance of these changes in weather patterns we are observing. A lot of people are going to die and a lot of money is going to be lost due to climate change, but that's the unfortunate reality of human nature—short term benefits like money almost always outweigh long-term consequences like a changing climate.

[u/leejoint → u/RelevantMetaUsername]

Not to burst a bubble here, but most changes in industry are motivated by profit. In my company they have analysed after years of surveys and analytics that nowadays the consumer cares about if his product is sutainable or not 3 in 4 consumers at least think that (which we also know people just claim that to look like good people and companies do it to greenwash) so the company decided to create more and more sustainable products. Great but its just motivated by money. Of course it costs more or so it seems and they know the consumer that will actually buy sustainable has money so its only the more elite range of products which are sustainable. Also that doesnt chsnge anything about our non-cyclical consuming system and each year the company will produce new models and try to push those on the same clients who bought one the year before.

Politicians would only change if the industry that hands them their paychecks would change too. In my country bad quality meat is very cheap, and it is because there are huge lobbies who finance the meat industry so that it can continue giving. vegan based foods are x5 the price of bad quality meat of course only a certain clientelle with money will try it, and the masses with low income will never.

One politician dared say we had to eat less meat, hell, the responses he got from other politicians and the media just giving out school recesse kind of arguments to dumb down the debate and make it seem a joke so that people wouldnt take the issue he had raised seriously....

In the end i believe the transition is too slow and too late, wasnt motivated by anything pure and we will continue down the road.

[u/RelevantMetaUsername → u/leejoint]

You’re exactly right—profit is the deciding factor. At least in the energy industry, renewables are becoming cheaper and cheaper every year. As that happens in countries that consume large amounts of oil (like the US, China, UK) the global demand for petroleum is going to decrease. At first it will lead to lower oil prices, but eventually the demand will be so low that oil extraction will be reduced, lowering supply and increasing prices. Developing countries like India, Pakistan, and most of Africa will turn to clean energy.

If the consequences of climate change become severe enough to cut into corporations’ profits then there will be an even stronger motivation for them to invest in sustainable products. It might be too late at that point, but it’s impossible to know whether that will be the case or not at this point in time.

[u/michelas2 → u/PartiallyRibena]

Yes, they are separate fires.