Let’s Do Something, Whether It Works or Not

Let’s Do Something, Whether It Works or Not

Sometimes it seems to me that we’re like the person looking for lost car keys down the street, not because that’s where they were lost, but because the light is better there.

We spend a fortune on cancer treatment, but not nearly enough on cancer prevention. That’s like being happy that the fire extinguishers and sprinklers work, but not caring about poor wiring, careless storage of combustibles, and smoking in dangerous areas.

We spend a fortune on trying to prevent further climate change, as if we can somehow obliterate an eon of societal and industrial progress, and don’t focus enough at all on adapting to it. We ought to stop building (and insuring) homes within forests and on the beaches, bury electrical lines, and think about “flood-proof” homes “fire-proof” structures. We pretend that conferences and celebrities (flying in on private jets) are going to reduce adverse climate effects, while China and India are using more coal than ever before.

We’re into immediate gratification, but not true solutions. The latter require work beyond “virtue signaling.”