There are a lot of older folks with such thinking.
This predates Trump by many years.
And no, unfortunately, it is not fixable. Most people that age are unwilling to learn. They stick to their “facts” and double down on them when asked for an actual explanation for how they arrived at such a conclusion.
Sounds like a good question, even if it is simplistic.
Does tree planting work? Probably the reason one think it might is the impression that forests sequester carbon. It turns out folks have studied this, and different types of forests do at different rates, and for different time scales. How do forest fires interact with that? It seems reasonable to think forest fires were part of the natural environment before humans were so impactful, and even in those times forests sequestered carbon (hence soil). Perhaps long term fire suppression has caused fires to become more intense even if climate change weren’t involved. How long do bad air conditions last vs improved air while fires aren’t burning, however all impacts of trees on air isn’t positive. (I seem to remember a early 90’s study that showed in ATL, trees were main source of VoCs).
At this point in time, the better questions are:
What areas (globally) will be less impacted by Climate Change when we reach 1.5C over the next 5 years?
From (1), what happens when we hit 2.5C over the next 30 years?
What areas will be most impacted by water and energy scarcity?
From (3), does the area you are in have food security?
Does large scale immigration present an actual danger to my location?
I have shifted my “view” of global warming from optimistic to pessimistic over the last 5 years. The pandemic and Trump set off a chain of events that make tackling climate change impossible in the short term.
I will reduce my (and families) carbon footprint as much as possible, but I also recognise that I have to be strategic about my (and families) life choices now. Only a select few countries will manage to maintain their quality of life, and its now become important to understand were the chips are going to fall in order to make the optimal choices.
Most of the thinking is, “I’m dead in 15 years, so why should I care?”
Awaiting the account name “Snikelpopz.”
The two countries most likely to benefit overall from a warming earth are Canada and Russia as they would be able to significantly increase agricultural production at higher latitudes. However that is scant consolation for the global havoc wreaked by climate change. Canadian governments have introduced significant carbon taxes to try to slow oil and gas consumption but they have had little effect.
That’s not completely clear to me, as I’ve seen some people suggest that thawing the permafrost can make parts of the northern regions less useful (e.g., there is a concern that some oil pipelines could lose their stability). I have no idea what the truth there is.
For those that don’t click links, a key paragraph from the article that is mostly about key global insurers recently pulling out of the Net Zero Insurance Alliance:
"Zurich Insurance said on April 5 that it was withdrawing from NZIA, becoming the second founding member after Munich Re to quit the climate group in less than a week. On April 19 Hannover Re announced its plans to drop out. NZIA, part of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero set up by U.N. climate envoy Mark Carney, requires members to commit to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions.
Allianz, Axa and French reinsurer Scor announced their departure from NZIA on May 25. In rapid succession Japanese insurers Sompo Holdings, MS&AD and Tokio Marine as well as Australia’s QBE Insurance quit the net-zero alliance in late May."
There are a variety of articles on this so I picked two at random. I don’t agree with everything the first one says: the second one is more balanced.
Long term perhaps, short term, a lot of that land has no soil to plant in. Disruptions to weather could also easily reduce productivity on the prairies if there’s less rainfall in places like Alberta
Even further south, winter roads are critical to get goods to northern Canada economically, warmer climate, less winter road access, more difficult to do anything.
The other aspect is a longer growing season for existing farmland.
I think the second article I posted does a more nuanced job of talking about the pro’s and con’s of climate change on Canada. I think the conclusion is that Canada has the same disadvantages as many other countries vis a vis climate change but has some offsetting benefits that other countries don’t.
For the record, I have been a strong supporter of environmental causes since the 1960’s so am supportive of any efforts that mitigate climate change.
Seems like the El Niño effect is interacting with global warming to cause larger than average heat waves in the South/Southwest of the US. Seeing huge heat domes.
Texas 51C (125F) Corpus Christi (in June!)
If that doesn’t wake up the denizens of Texas to the threats of global warming I don’t know what will.
[red] This wouldn’t be happening if Biden secured the border [/red]
Still hot, but that’s heat index, not temperature.
Phoenix has actually been really nice so far this year. It’s only in the last couple of weeks that it’s consistently gotten over 100. It looks like it will be going up, but we’re heading north for a few weeks anyway.
We’ve still got nights in the 50’s in the north east. May never get the pool warm enough to swim in.
Do you have a solar cover? I’ve already been able to go in pool bc of mine
Solar cover and heater. Finally up to 82 today.