The irony is that boomers have been alive long enough to remember how different the climate used to be. They’ll remark how it never snows as much as it used to, or how there are more storms, fires, droughts, etc. Yet they refuse to see that climate change is what is causing this change.
I’m in my 30s and remember the weather being very different in my childhood… winter never had 30 degree differences between yesterday and today like we had this past week. Was nearly 60 degrees one day and then we got 6+ inches of snow the next day.
i’m mid 40s in central europe and can clearly remember that summers were around 32°C max in my childhood, last 2 years we had 40°C. I can remember winter being a lot colder, regulary freezing the Danube river for extended periods, allowing skating - these times it’s a bad idea stepping on the thin ice that never freezes over completely. And i can clearly remember huge amounts of insects, making a mess of the windshield when driving - nowadays the windshield nearly stays clean. The boomers are lying to themselves, because the truth is too hard to acknowledge.
I’m assuming the hotter temperatures are also increased by how much concrete there is compared to back then. Also the floods. They build warehouses on fields and then be surprised all the water goes into rivers. I’m in my late 20s and remember ice skating on local river in the city and there being more snow that lasted longer. Now if it even snows it’s gone in few days.
I’m living in Vienna, having grown up in this city. I can assure you that while the city has grown, it actually put a lot of effort into primarily increasing population density instead of growing into the countryside (well, they have expanded too, but not by much in comparison to the population growth). The extra heat does not come from more concrete here - Vienna is one of the greenest large cities in Europe, and with lots of forest surrounding the west and the river going through it is a pretty privileged situation overall. Also, this year for example i can count the amount of days below 0°C on one hand - i haven’t seen ice in any meaningful amount. All together i’d say our temperature window has shifted by around 10°C upwards since the late 80.
Edit: Just looked it up, it really seems like the average didn’t move as much as the temperature maxima/minima.
Yet they refuse to see that climate change is what is causing this change.
If they accept climate change, it means they have to acknowledge that their actions helped cause this and it means they need to change their behavior. People aren’t good at either but most Boomers especially suck at self-reflection.
Which isn’t true either. They are not fully responsible. I can’t blame them for believing that personal co2 foot print nonsense. The oil industry poured billions into that campaign
they voted for the policies that enabled it all and didn’t challenge their governments. If you’re a white boomer that isn’t in poverty, you ain’t on my innocent card
“Generation Me” is chock full of narcissists. And the one thing narcissists are never going to do is consider that they are the root of the very problems at hand.
It’s not that climate change is causing this change of climate. The change of climate is climate change. That’s why it’s ridiculous for someone to say “Oh, the climate’s changing. But it isn’t climate change!”
Oh no, it must be those pesky democrats and their secret government weather control /s. Trying to convince people to believe in climate change so they can… checks notes… promote self-sufficiency through renewable energy…
What’s causing it is primarily greenhouse gasses along with several other compounding factors (deforestation, concrete and asphalt coverage, melting ice caps, etc.).
So yes, human-induced. No one would run a gas-powered lawnmower indoors, but somehow they believe that billions of people driving outside every day is totally fine?
The boomers in my life are starting to come around with it but they believe and combination of
it’s not man made
it won’t be as bad as people say/we can’t know the future
green tech like electric vehicles are too expensive
The first two are frustrating but don’t really matter if we can engineer our way out of three. My dad got solar panels because they would pay for themselves eventually. I’m not saying we can just green tech our way out of the climate crisis but if green tech gets good enough it will go a LONG way
These are just anecdotes from interacting with my family. Your mileage may vary
The irony is that boomers have been alive long enough to remember how different the climate used to be. They’ll remark how it never snows as much as it used to, or how there are more storms, fires, droughts, etc. Yet they refuse to see that climate change is what is causing this change.
I’m in my 30s and remember the weather being very different in my childhood… winter never had 30 degree differences between yesterday and today like we had this past week. Was nearly 60 degrees one day and then we got 6+ inches of snow the next day.
i’m mid 40s in central europe and can clearly remember that summers were around 32°C max in my childhood, last 2 years we had 40°C. I can remember winter being a lot colder, regulary freezing the Danube river for extended periods, allowing skating - these times it’s a bad idea stepping on the thin ice that never freezes over completely. And i can clearly remember huge amounts of insects, making a mess of the windshield when driving - nowadays the windshield nearly stays clean. The boomers are lying to themselves, because the truth is too hard to acknowledge.
I’m assuming the hotter temperatures are also increased by how much concrete there is compared to back then. Also the floods. They build warehouses on fields and then be surprised all the water goes into rivers. I’m in my late 20s and remember ice skating on local river in the city and there being more snow that lasted longer. Now if it even snows it’s gone in few days.
I’m living in Vienna, having grown up in this city. I can assure you that while the city has grown, it actually put a lot of effort into primarily increasing population density instead of growing into the countryside (well, they have expanded too, but not by much in comparison to the population growth). The extra heat does not come from more concrete here - Vienna is one of the greenest large cities in Europe, and with lots of forest surrounding the west and the river going through it is a pretty privileged situation overall. Also, this year for example i can count the amount of days below 0°C on one hand - i haven’t seen ice in any meaningful amount. All together i’d say our temperature window has shifted by around 10°C upwards since the late 80.
Edit: Just looked it up, it really seems like the average didn’t move as much as the temperature maxima/minima.
I can count the number of days this year on one hand…
For real though, I knew what you meant. I just couldn’t resist the opportunity (after all, there’s only five days a year when this joke might apply)
Yeah.why acknowledge the scary when you can lie to yourself and hide in your castle
until you dieforeverIf they accept climate change, it means they have to acknowledge that their actions helped cause this and it means they need to change their behavior. People aren’t good at either but most Boomers especially suck at self-reflection.
Which isn’t true either. They are not fully responsible. I can’t blame them for believing that personal co2 foot print nonsense. The oil industry poured billions into that campaign
they voted for the policies that enabled it all and didn’t challenge their governments. If you’re a white boomer that isn’t in poverty, you ain’t on my innocent card
They fell for the lies they wanted to hear because they propped up their ability to have it all. Fuck 'em.
True that. But right now people are voting for the right while the right tell them straight to the face they will kill them.
Apparently that is appealing for some people. Idk.
And the old political parties are also shifting to the right following the capitalism.
“Generation Me” is chock full of narcissists. And the one thing narcissists are never going to do is consider that they are the root of the very problems at hand.
It’s not that climate change is causing this change of climate. The change of climate is climate change. That’s why it’s ridiculous for someone to say “Oh, the climate’s changing. But it isn’t climate change!”
Oh no, it must be those pesky democrats and their secret government weather control /s. Trying to convince people to believe in climate change so they can… checks notes… promote self-sufficiency through renewable energy…
What’s causing it is primarily greenhouse gasses along with several other compounding factors (deforestation, concrete and asphalt coverage, melting ice caps, etc.).
So yes, human-induced. No one would run a gas-powered lawnmower indoors, but somehow they believe that billions of people driving outside every day is totally fine?
The boomers in my life are starting to come around with it but they believe and combination of
The first two are frustrating but don’t really matter if we can engineer our way out of three. My dad got solar panels because they would pay for themselves eventually. I’m not saying we can just green tech our way out of the climate crisis but if green tech gets good enough it will go a LONG way
These are just anecdotes from interacting with my family. Your mileage may vary