A good summary of the denial/apathy problem. The tragedy of the commons, writ large.

I can't even persuade my own extended family to cut driving mileage, although I have decided I'm never flying again.

Politicians, of course, make a living by selling delusional optimism. And the media rely on advertising revenue, so don't want to scare the horses too much.

I recently sent an email to pretty much everyone I know. It included this:

1. In my last year teaching at uni I was asked to teach the chemical physics of climate change as part of CHEM113. Dunno whether the students learned anything but I sure did.

2. We’re wrecking the global climate – yes, us. Our lifestyles.

3. Our kids will cop the consequences.

4. Those consequences are rather grim.

5. Most of my friends and acquaintances don’t appear to care about their kids’ future.

6. I don’t know why they don’t care.

7. I no longer know how to hold any kind of worthwhile conversation with people who pretend this isn’t happening, or that it’s nothing to do with them.

8. I hope you might care enough to get political, so our kids have some chance at a decent future.

Optimism and pessimism are both useless; we just have to do what we can - each of us, all of us who care.