Climate Deadlines and the Countdown to Catastrophe: From Doomsday to Action

Are Setting Climate Deadlines a Good Idea or Not?Have you noticed that almost all the climate deadlines end with “0”? 2030, 2050, 2100. So that means we either have 7 or 37, or 87 years to tidy up our atmosphere before catastrophe strikes. There are groups of activists and scientists that swear by them. Motivational they say. While others tell us they are limiting and could be detrimental.   This talk of Doomsday Clocks does tap into broader questions about the place of apocalyptic rhetoric in today’s climate conversation.  This apocalyptic thinking does make it seem like climate change is all-or-nothing: Either we fix it, or we’re done. As long as humans have been alive, we’ve been thinking about the end times, a day of reckoning, Judgement day. Or is it we are just hardwired for procrastination?For some thinking about climate is like thinking about their death. And we are all enthusiastic about that, right?Join us for a lively discussion on politics, apocalypse, human motivation, solutions, and  our tendency to want to delay doom. Below you will find a link to “A Call to Act.” A comprehensive eco-guide that skips over things like not using disposable plastics, or meat-less meal preparation and goes straight to the heart of the matter: What are the most effective ways to tackle our eco-problems? Spoiler Alert: The answer is the same as it always has been – Organize. Assemble. Mobilize. Gather with other like-minded, passionate people to take action.  But what? But how?“A Call to Act” features hundreds of eco-action activities that cover every aspect of your life — home, family, career, school, shopping, leisure time, investing, and all the parts of our lives that will allow you to mobilize.A CALL TO ACT: A Comprehensive Eco-Action Resource GuideEpisode Webpage