Coronavirus and climate change are obvious risks we ignore. Forget black swans. We’re getting run over by two gray rhinos: coronavirus and climate change. A gray rhino is a metaphor coined by risk expert Michele Wucker to describe “highly obvious, highly probable, but still neglected” dangers.

To each their own I guess. Quarantines are effective, but judging by how packed this bar is at noon on a Monday, I don’t think people care about this virus too much. Maybe it’ll get worse for younger people soon, but it doesn’t seem that threatening currently. As far as global warming? Personally I wouldn’t trust the government enough to implement something so absolutely society-altering, and it wouldn’t matter if we did. That’s what’s so stupid about the green new deal, cool we change every facet of American society, but China and India and developing nations will still produce more greenhouse gasses than the world can handle. It’s a battle that cannot be won without unilateral global support for one clean system from every greenhouse gas producer on the planet. It will literally never happen. China would need a revolution 4 times before they ever even pretend to give a shit about emissions. On the homefront, what do carbon taxes do? How does giving more of my paycheck to President and Pals in the name of carbon emissions counter global warming? Until they can provide a balance sheet of how that money is used to directly combat global warming, it isn’t worth paying it. Zero-emissions requirements? For what industry? Outside of ones own home, that is a near impossibility. We need to get major polluting nations to decrease their impact or we are fucked no matter what the West does.

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