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Like the thoughts you put into your post. I will admit I like going out sometimes, but I don’t necessarily need to. As far as the Earth not caring, I don’t know why you think like that. Isn’t it practical to protect your own planet? Wouldn’t a God want that? And also what about the animals and the oceans? I just think it’s wrong to think we should just destroy it. Plus that worsens our lives. The oxygen, the air, etc.. We do need fresh air. Do you know bad it is in China? Bad for your lungs too. Pollution is not good.
Of course, I’ve been to Beijing, it was miserable air quality. I don’t think I ever implied we shouldn’t care about the planet, but what baffles me is when someone has this very bizarre idea like “well gee the planet would be better off without us.” Without a sentient species, the planet is pretty pointless. It’s just a series of creatures eating, sleeping, and reproducing with nobody to appreciate any of it because appreciation of beauty is a human trait. I totally agree the planet would be WAY better off with fewer humans, but try telling that to the breeders who insist on their right to overpopulate the world pointlessly because they can’t do anything but behave just like the animals. Until there’s an actual critical mass of people who stop procreating like bunnies, we won’t have the luxury of a more ecologically sustainable planet. No amount of “cutting back” makes up for 7+ billion humans.
There’s the environmentalist argument and the introversion argument.
For environmentalists, any curtailing of traffic, and reduction in oil-usage and the like, is a fantastic boon. Thus the quips about how it took a viral pandemic to clear the Los Angeles sky… more effective than 50+ years of the California Air Resource Board.
For introverts, any opportunity to desist from face-to-face social contact, is a fantastic boon. If we’re all “socially isolated”, then those whose nature is to seek isolation, now suddenly go from being weirdos and targets of derision, to heroes of a new vanguard.
To the environmentalists, I would argue that return to pre-industrial civilization would even better meet their goals. Is that the desire? Are they making a moral argument, that humanity should disavow its technological progress, in the interest of environmental integrity?
To the introverts, I offer congratulation on their new self-validation. But note that economic activity is an inherently social thing. It depends on customers approaching businesses, on buying and selling in the marketplace, on employees working together to design and make products and to offer services. A society of solitary folks ensconced in their homes, is a failed economy. Is this what we want?
There's always an upside and a downside to everything. Some businesses like grocery stores and morticians are booming because of Covid. The entertainment industry is devastated. So are the farmers.
Nature culls the over populated, and yes, we are over populated on this planet. My husband is an introvert, I am an extrovert. There's a lot I miss. Especially the kids in my life.
Yes it's quiet all right. Yes the pollution is less. Gas prices have never been lower, but where are you going to go?
I'm not so sure our roller rink will survive. I miss our Friday morning sessions with the seniors. How many of them will survive this? Will our favorite restaurant in town survive? Our mom and pop ice cream parlor? I don't know. Life will be altered for quite awhile. Boredom is the new norm.
The effects of the pandemic are temporary at best. People are already screaming to get back to "normal" and its only lasted about 3 months.
I have to agree. China, which has massive pollution will most certainly be back to their old ways when the virus is under control. Same for other cities like Los Angeles or Bangkok
The only way to “solve” the issue would be for humans to stop driving so many damn cars, which isn’t going to happen until we invest in more public transportation.
I do find it ironic that people dying or having a degraded quality of life due to air pollution is just "a fact of life" while people dying of a virus is worth shutting the world down over. Esoteric philosphizing about whether the planet likes us or not aside, there's immediate health consequences to our pollution, and that's worth taking a look at and mitigating.
There’s been evidence that pollution is reducing. Shouldn’t we take a step back and be objective? If this shows how we are trashing the planet then what good are humans to the planet? It’s an honest question. And isn’t social distancing nice for a change? Or for those that don’t go to a job now. Isn’t that nice? All I’m saying is why don’t we take a step back and look at the big picture?
What is so great about going out into civilization anyways? Even before this happened, most people were just on their phones anyways. Do you really miss the packed subways and the endless traffic? Didn’t that get old? I feel like we were living in The Matrix. What’s so great about that life?
Just please hear me out. Most people do not interact anymore outside the house. It’s a different time. And do you really need to go to concerts anymore? Or to basketball games? The best seat in the house is your living room and you can watch on a high def tv.
You have to look at the future and be honest. Self driving cars are coming. You think now jobs are becoming automated well what about 5, 10, or 15 years from now? Most jobs are not needed and money doesn’t exist in the way we think it does. It’s just a system. A flawed one and in the future we’ll have to come up with a better and more practical one. And this pandemic can occur again. We have to stop living in The Matrix. We are beginning to see things for what they are.
The world is quieter, more tranquil and peaceful. We don’t need the hectic lifestyle anymore. You just think you do. That’s the past. The world doesn’t need tons of people going to work and polluting the airs. You see how many people can work from home. Schools don’t need to reopen, we have the internet which is better. We don’t need people traveling to go on business trips. Use Zoom. In a few years we will think that going on a business trip is unthinkable and unnecessary. We won’t even have to travel for vacations due to Virtual reality. Oh yes.
In a few years, malls and movie theatres will be far and few between. They really aren’t needed. Many types of businesses are going to close. Remember before Facebook and smartphones? Life became different after and people adjusted and started to care more about likes than real life. And now with this pandemic we are entering a new way of life just like we did with smart phones and social media. And social media will become virtual so it feels like we are in the same room with other people.
Let me ask you. What is so great about socializing too closely and going out? Stay home is the new motto. It used to be stay drug free and don’t smoke. Now it’s stay home. Like you’ve heard, this is our new normal.
I think this is the perfect example of the moronic extreme to which we would need to go to 'save the planet'. People are going to die...suicide, cancer, heart attacks, strokes...yet you lefties think it's better because the carbon emissions are lower. I can't even with that.
Charles Krauthammer (RIP) used to say it all the time. You could do anything you needed to to get the carbon down. But at what cost? I think we are seeing what cost and in my mind, the price is too high.
There’s the environmentalist argument and the introversion argument.
For environmentalists, any curtailing of traffic, and reduction in oil-usage and the like, is a fantastic boon. Thus the quips about how it took a viral pandemic to clear the Los Angeles sky… more effective than 50+ years of the California Air Resource Board.
For introverts, any opportunity to desist from face-to-face social contact, is a fantastic boon. If we’re all “socially isolated”, then those whose nature is to seek isolation, now suddenly go from being weirdos and targets of derision, to heroes of a new vanguard.
To the environmentalists, I would argue that return to pre-industrial civilization would even better meet their goals. Is that the desire? Are they making a moral argument, that humanity should disavow its technological progress, in the interest of environmental integrity?
To the introverts, I offer congratulation on their new self-validation. But note that economic activity is an inherently social thing. It depends on customers approaching businesses, on buying and selling in the marketplace, on employees working together to design and make products and to offer services. A society of solitary folks ensconced in their homes, is a failed economy. Is this what we want?
As a major introvert, I agree 100%. I HATE seeing people losing their livelihoods, their savings...etc. I am going to eat out every day for a year after all of this. (Hang in there, restaurant owners!)
There’s been evidence that pollution is reducing. Shouldn’t we take a step back and be objective? If this shows how we are trashing the planet then what good are humans to the planet? It’s an honest question. And isn’t social distancing nice for a change? Or for those that don’t go to a job now. Isn’t that nice? All I’m saying is why don’t we take a step back and look at the big picture?
What is so great about going out into civilization anyways? Even before this happened, most people were just on their phones anyways. Do you really miss the packed subways and the endless traffic? Didn’t that get old? I feel like we were living in The Matrix. What’s so great about that life?
Just please hear me out. Most people do not interact anymore outside the house. It’s a different time. And do you really need to go to concerts anymore? Or to basketball games? The best seat in the house is your living room and you can watch on a high def tv.
You have to look at the future and be honest. Self driving cars are coming. You think now jobs are becoming automated well what about 5, 10, or 15 years from now? Most jobs are not needed and money doesn’t exist in the way we think it does. It’s just a system. A flawed one and in the future we’ll have to come up with a better and more practical one. And this pandemic can occur again. We have to stop living in The Matrix. We are beginning to see things for what they are.
The world is quieter, more tranquil and peaceful. We don’t need the hectic lifestyle anymore. You just think you do. That’s the past. The world doesn’t need tons of people going to work and polluting the airs. You see how many people can work from home. Schools don’t need to reopen, we have the internet which is better. We don’t need people traveling to go on business trips. Use Zoom. In a few years we will think that going on a business trip is unthinkable and unnecessary. We won’t even have to travel for vacations due to Virtual reality. Oh yes.
In a few years, malls and movie theatres will be far and few between. They really aren’t needed. Many types of businesses are going to close. Remember before Facebook and smartphones? Life became different after and people adjusted and started to care more about likes than real life. And now with this pandemic we are entering a new way of life just like we did with smart phones and social media. And social media will become virtual so it feels like we are in the same room with other people.
Let me ask you. What is so great about socializing too closely and going out? Stay home is the new motto. It used to be stay drug free and don’t smoke. Now it’s stay home. Like you’ve heard, this is our new normal.
Nah. Because it's only temporary. Very temporary. So it doesn't help the planet. It's always better for the planet for there to be fewer people, so I guess the deaths from any disaster helps in that respect (famine, tornadoes, ships sinking, pandemics, crimes against humanity). But that's a narrow view of the planet, isn't it? Because those disasters & evil occurrences have other effects on the planet that have nothing to do with climate or natural resources. As I recall, though...that is part of Darwin's theory of evolution: natural selection. If a creature can't make it through something that earth throws at it, it either transforms or dies off, clearing the way for stronger creatures to grow.
I have to agree. China, which has massive pollution will most certainly be back to their old ways when the virus is under control. Same for other cities like Los Angeles or Bangkok
The only way to “solve” the issue would be for humans to stop driving so many damn cars, which isn’t going to happen until we invest in more public transportation.
China is very close to being back to full production, so expect to see the pollution return.
Also, expect to see many challenges to expansion of public transportation, as it is also an easy way for disease to spread quickly. And expanding it while taking social distancing into play really destroys any cost advantages as capacity greatly reduces.
China is very close to being back to full production, so expect to see the pollution return.
Also, expect to see many challenges to expansion of public transportation, as it is also an easy way for disease to spread quickly. And expanding it while taking social distancing into play really destroys any cost advantages as capacity greatly reduces.
Having a pandemic isn't an argument against mass transit, because people can always elect to drive, when necessary. But take mass transit when there's not a pandemic. And there is rarely a pandemic. In fact, the use of mass transit lessens environmental damage, which lessens the possibility or strength of any pandemic.
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