AIBU to ask why some people are so unempathic about the climate crisis?

[Unconquerable]

My neighbour made a casual remark yesterday. Something like “Yep, that’s climate change“. I was shocked because I used to think he didn’t believe in climate change. Two big cars, travels by cruise ship twice a year. I asked if he believed in climate change. He said of course he did but he didn’t care. Has no children and thinks he will be dead before we see the worst effects. As a mother I am shocked, not only that he thinks like that but also that he thinks it is social acceptable to tell me... in all honesty I think I would feel better if he had told me he thought it was all a hoax.
Did he just tell me it is okay if my children will suffer because he will be dead and gone?
Am I being too dramatic?

“Species come and go?“ So you think it is okay if our species has to “go“. Would you also feel like this about it if it would happen during your life time?

Our species will become extinct at some stage. My life has to end sometime, as does yours. We could get knocked over by a bus tomorrow, or get cancer which kills us, or Kim Jong fat one could decide to press a button, as could the Mullahs in Iran, and we all die in a nuclear holocaust or of radiation poisoning from the fallout. I see no point in worrying about what I cannot change or influence. Until and unless China and India gets on board with reducing emissions, nothing will alter.

I think throughout history some humans have been more hardhearted than others.

Look at the end of slavery - some argued for human rights, some said it was business.

I wouldn't waste time on those firmly in the uncaring camp.

There are three groups of people:

1. Already onboard with the need to tackle climate change
2. Persuadable
3. CC denier/uncaring

You have to focus on group two.

My advice is ignore him and get active about CC, because ultimately it is political action that is needed.

It is a complex issue. You have ruined the planet by having children - the worst thing most people can ever do for the planet and the neighbour is an abossolute planet hero for having no children. there is no doubt at all which of you has achieved the greater good for the planet but I doubt he curses you for planet damage (because he is kind)

I have many friends who are militant about climate change ie go on marches, post on Facebook, never used plastic , rarely fly etc etc and one thing I've noticed that they all have in common is their lives seem fairly perfect in the main ie financially comfortable, healthy kids, happy relationship , live in nice houses in nice areas. I think it's much harder to focus on being a eco warrior when you have to worry about finding the money for rent each month or worrying about Medical appointments for your kids. When you have those type of worries it's hard to find the head space for worrying about something that may happen in the future even if you believe it's imminent .

Did he just tell me it is okay if my children will suffer because he will be dead and gone?

I think you're being ridiculously melodramatic about this to be honest. He said nothing of the sort. I'm alarmed by climate change and fully behind efforts to reverse it but I've made casual throwaway comments about it. You can't censor what people find funny and you also can't assume that because he can joke about it that he isn't privately concerned by it.

Incidentally if you play the "I have children so I'm much more invested in the future than you are" card with people you're more likely to get snarky comments. Its pious, sanctimonious and hypocritical and bound to wind up anyone on the receiving end.

Climate change' is just a buzz word. In my days, it was called global warming.

No. Climate change is the term for... the climate changing. It really is that simple. They used to call it global warming, but that changed as we gained a better understanding of what was happening.

@Crazycrazylady

I have many friends who are militant about climate change ie go on marches, post on Facebook, never used plastic , rarely fly etc etc and one thing I've noticed that they all have in common is their lives seem fairly perfect in the main ie financially comfortable, healthy kids, happy relationship , live in nice houses in nice areas. I think it's much harder to focus on being a eco warrior when you have to worry about finding the money for rent each month or worrying about Medical appointments for your kids. When you have those type of worries it's hard to find the head space for worrying about something that may happen in the future even if you believe it's imminent .

I think there's an element of truth in this. It's not true as the Daily Mail would have you believe that all climate change activists are trustafarians, its damaging right wing propaganda. But it is generally the case that you have to have a degree of financial security and a minimum of daily distractions to become so heavily invested in something which isn't an immediate concern, particularly in the middle of a global pandemic.

I'm fully behind the aims of reducing emissions etc but I do think historically the environmental movement has not always been very self-aware about this and has not been very good at reaching out to ordinary people with more pressing daily concerns. Extinction Rebellion is an improvement on earlier generations: they are well organised, have worked much harder to draw people from a range of background and have some sensible goals. But there's still a disproportionate representation within this movement of rich and upper middle class kids and this permeates the attitude towards the ordinary grunts who shuffle off to their dull corporate lives.

It's changing, slowly, as the aims of the environmental movement becomes more mainstream, and that's a good thing. But there's some scepticism about it and not all of that is right-wing propaganda.

One reason some people are "uncaring" is because the government and the media are CONSTANTLY telling us that disaster is just around the corner, and have been since long before "climate change" was fashionable. We were promised Armageddon from the Millennium Bug, our mobile phones were killing us, weapons of mass destruction, to name but a few.

It's the regular crying wolf and winding people up that makes some people ignore these "important" messages.

Remember when the message was "use less plastic"? It's now "wear a face mask", even though they're creating mountains of single-use plastic, which is ending up in the sea.

Preventing climate change isn't just about ensuring a better future for our children. Climate change, habitat loss, pollution, hunting etc will also lead to starvation and extinction for billions of the animals that share our amazing planet and we all (including those without children) have a moral responsibility to the other inhabitants of planet Earth. It seems a bit arrogant to refuse to make sacrifices for the wellbeing of the planet just because one doesn't have children that may benefit from these sacrifices.

I think it just seems so abstract to many people “a gradual decline over many generations”; “all species end at some point”. Whereas really it’s the people losing their homes, sometimes their lives, because of hurricanes and heavy monsoon rains (stronger because of warming seas) - last year, this year, next year. The families in many places who are finding that the rains are all out of sync and their kids are going hungry. The people who work outdoors in Iraq and are trying to keep going in the current heatwave when it’s reaching 50C plus in the day and high 30s at night. And in another couple of decades, more of the same, plus conflict over shrinking water resources. I don’t need to think too far down the line to future generations to know that this is awful.

Has no children and thinks he will be dead before we see the worst effects.

That’s probably right. I believe in climate change and don’t go out of my way to do bad things but I also know it only works if everyone else makes huge sacrifices. And they won’t. So I’m not going to be some martyr disadvantaging myself for a lost cause. They should pass laws banning things like multiple car ownership or petrol engines if it’s that big a deal.. but they won’t because not every other country will.. and we’d be at a disadvantage. Rinse and repeat!! It would take a world government to sort it out and we just voted to leave the EU so good luck