There is a conflict between personal survival and the ecological footprint of modern humans. Well, it's not a conflict, but there is a paradox. Methuselah generations living into their 100s and also going to be facing questions about their footprint on the world. At the same time, does someone living well into their 100's grant a different perspective. As the American Baby Boomers show, stretching out perspective is not necessarily a product of age, as they operate entirely from a generation raised in a bubble of affluence and believing it their creation. Of course, that's why they had to portray the successive generations with dimmer outlooks as deficient of character, despite their desperate clawing at retaining control over every layer of the culture.

Granted, Boomers are just acting the way most people, assuming their situation is the default, and anyone questioning is obviously abnormal. So to avoid yet another rambling dunk on the Boomer's continuing slide into senility while insisting on cultural supremacy, let's get back to the matter of temporal perspective. Environmental collapse has now eclipsed nuclear war as our ever closer Apocalypse, and this one can't be averted because of quick-witted officer classes overruling faulty signals. For the most part, the last forty years of climate politics has been countless pledges and solemn videos of kids cheerily recycling, while fuck all actually happens in reality. Not saying all environmental activism is pointless, but largely Global Warming has been more lip service than action by the world's governments.

This is partially a consequence of the central tenant of American Presidential politics, which is that the President and his Party depend on positive Economic growth and low unemployment for electoral success. So, even if there is a strong chance that tinkering with the still deeply subsidized oil industry could backfire into some bad quarters around election time, the action gets turned into pleasantries. Republican or Democrat, it only really comes down to the difference in the rhetoric. Even supposedly bold environmental action in Biden's agenda ends up having massive subsidies for the almost nonexistent Hydrogen industry.

Making the investment in some buzz worthy industry can ensure that it can be portrayed as innovation instead of regulation. Having hard conversations and talking about the consequences of inaction do not win elections. And politicians only think from election to election, those that don't are unlikely to keep the gig. Like corporations that work from quarter to quarter, there isn't room for taking an L for the greater good. The accelerating tech of the last century has only shortened our windows of time, anything not delivering instant results fades into the background.

Of course, that short attention span erodes the foundation of almost everything. Politicians tour Uber as a reason to dismantle both public transport and worker protections, despite that company's distinct lack of profitability. People are speculating wildly on the next bubble, whether in millennial nostalgia collectibles like Pokémon cards, or Mr. Potato head built pixel art tied to some blockchain scheme, or just rampant stock scheming on Reddit. Everyone sort of feels the pull toward the brink of something, with an immediacy that lands on either fear or euphoria, depending on your output.

I am not certain that as the dual aims to extend our lifetimes and preserve a stable biosphere will come together in people who understand that they actually have to live in the world where some of the bills come due. It might not just be in our nature to be anything besides serotonin monkeys reeling from stimulus to stimulus, fed by an economic system perfect to adapt and feed every desire. Though it isn't as if the Soviet states were any mor environmentally conscious, any industrial economy is going to have issues. In part, this is probably the sort of realization that results in nihilism. In our current state, we seem to be out of options to do much of anything.

I would love to be proven wrong, and we end up with Vulcans living hundreds of years wisely guiding society through logic and selfless action. Honestly, I assume that we end up Quarians adrift in space running from the consequences of our negligence.


Image by aukideezy via Victezzy