People not acting until they're forced to.

Posted 06-07-2011 at 01:04 PM by DarkHoodness
Updated 06-07-2011 at 01:10 PM by DarkHoodness

And now for something incredibly boring and mundane.

For my Uni course I've had to read about the history of London, particularly the 1800s where they had no sewers, everybody flushed their crap into the Thames river, which infected the water table that people were also drinking from, and dying of cholera.

The government didn't do shit about it (literally, hehe) until the Great Stink event during the unusually hot summer of 1858, where the smell of the sewage coming from the river got so terribly bad that the MPs couldn't use their shiny new parliament building.

Only then did the majority of the government decide to act, and started building the sewer system which is still in use today, and water treatment works for people to have clean drinking water. Since people still didn't understand the link between sewage and disease at that time, it was still disputed within parliament as being a waste of money.

This got me thinking about how this (and many other historical situations) parallels with the current problems that we face with climate change. Despite how the most sensible of us are saying we should take steps now to combat the effects of climate change, most people can't be bothered, don't believe it's happening, or value material wealth over our future well-being. Money is apparently more important than lives anyway, right?

Perhaps it's pointless to tell people to change, because there's absolutely no way that we will - Not until we're forced to by the effects of climate change and are suffering as a result. We'll still continue to live the way we are now until it's impossible to do so, and perhaps that's always the way we as a species have done things.

--

TL;DNR:
Most human behaviour in history states that we don't do a damned thing about a dire situation until it really becomes dire enough to force us to act, and I've linked that with our inaction on the current problems we face with climate change.

Comments 10

Total Comments 10

Comments

	I agree.
	Posted 06-07-2011 at 01:08 PM by RoryF

	Finally, something interesting, and all it took is big shit piles!
	Posted 06-07-2011 at 01:18 PM by STM

I agree in general but I think you struck a bad example with climate change. Existing or not, being 'green' is the current trend with anything. Cars, power plants, factories. Everything has to be eco friendly while we're not exactly in a place where's dire yet and had we carried on like we did before this green trend, I don't think we would have reached that dire point for 100's of years. So in this case we are looking ahead and fixing a future problem.

Posted 06-07-2011 at 01:26 PM by Havoc

	I think the ice caps are melting slower than they were last year which is good. Need to fix the bees though.
	Posted 06-07-2011 at 01:28 PM by STM

@ Havoc - In my opinion, the trouble with the "green" movement is that it's not really effective enough to do a lot, and some of it is lies made up by companies to profit from people who are a little concerned about saving our environment but don't know a lot about the situation. It also only applies to the developed world - People in under-developed countries, like China, are incredibly ignorant to climate change and environmental damage, and who are the worst polluters.

People need to do a lot more to make any sort of difference - And by a lot more, I mean we need to sacrifice things and be prepared to do without a lot of comforts.

Change needs to be fast and radical. And let's face it, not many of us are prepared to do that - To some extent, even I'm not prepared to do what we really need to, since I already live without some comforts where my situation allows me to (wood burner using wood scraps for heating, using LPG to cook, tiny fridge, planning meals & buying only what I need for 3 days at a time, compost toilet, risking my life by cycling everywhere while dodging ignorant shithead motorists), and that's far from ideal. It's a hard truth that people can't really face.

Posted 06-07-2011 at 02:02 PM by DarkHoodness

Updated 06-07-2011 at 02:05 PM by DarkHoodness

As long as there are people there will be demand. With demand comes factories, with factories comes polution. Cut away the cancer at the source and the entire chain grinds to a halt.

Simple solution? Cut the worlds population in half and you cut pollution in half. It's really that simple and I'm really hoping I get to see the day where the world population starts decreasing, either naturally or by force.

Posted 06-07-2011 at 05:09 PM by Havoc

	You hit the nail right on the head there. Human life itself is sacred... Yet quality of life isn't. Weird. Population reduction is another hard truth which people won't ever accept because it goes against our very nature, apparently.
	Posted 06-07-2011 at 06:54 PM by DarkHoodness

	: Simple solution? Cut the worlds population in half and you cut pollution in half. cool let's start with you
	Posted 06-07-2011 at 07:58 PM by metroixer

	Funny how those expressing that sentiment always assume that they get to see it from the outside, rather than intimately and brutally.
	Posted 06-08-2011 at 04:08 AM by Bullet Magnet

	http://www.oddworldforums.net/showpo...7&postcount=21 Oh wait, I think I already posted my opinion on this.
	Posted 06-08-2011 at 09:24 AM by DarkHoodness

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