Swiss glaciers lose 10% of their volume in the last two years.

[SnowLabrador]

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/28/swiss-glaciers-lose-tenth-volume-in-two-years-climate-crisis

This is an alarming story, not just because of what it means for climate change now, but also because the rate of melting is likely to accelerate. It makes me even more ashamed to be American - our response to climate change is like our response to mass shootings, except in this case, it's not just the US that is harmed.

[Meclazine for Israel]

[SnowLabrador]

That doesn't negate our responsibility to curb our own emissions.

[CumbrianLefty]

It doesn't negate the above no, but India and (especially) China are also doing a great deal of "green" stuff - meanwhile, our own PM is apparently going to spend his big speech at next week's conference signal boosting the alt-right "15 minute cities" conspiracy theory.

[Aurelius2]

15 minute cities are not a conspiracy theory, and they certainly have nothing in particular to do with the alt-right.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

15 minute cities are not a conspiracy theory, and they certainly have nothing in particular to do with the alt-right.

The reaction from the right to the notion that everyone should be able to access grocery stores and pharmacies within a quarter of an hour of their home is, however, entirely hysterical.

[Aurelius2]

15 minute cities are not a conspiracy theory, and they certainly have nothing in particular to do with the alt-right.

The reaction from the right to the notion that everyone should be able to access grocery stores and pharmacies within a quarter of an hour of their home is, however, entirely hysterical.

No, it is entirely rational when you see what measures some cities, most notably Oxford, have taken in pursuit of this goal.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Slavery is having to walk four blocks to Trader Joe's. Freedom is being able to drive 45 minutes to the nearest supermarket the town over.

[Vosem]

Slavery is having to walk four blocks to Trader Joe's. Freedom is being able to drive 45 minutes to the nearest supermarket the town over.

Yes, correct. Slavery is "having to", freedom is "being able to"; you have accidentally provided us with deeply true material. Second halves of the sentences are unnecessary, though.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

No one is going to force you to live in a bubble. Take your meds.

[Aurelius2]

No one is going to force you to live in a bubble. Take your meds.

Please decide whether no one wants us to, or it would be a good thing if it happened. Nobody will take your lot seriously until then, and rightly so. The city of Oxford infamously is in the process of implementing a scheme that would heavily fine people for driving from their neighborhood into the next neighborhood over.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

I haven't heard of that, so "infamous" might be an exaggeration! I also don't think it's a serious policy proposal in America, whereas there are, in fact, large geographical swathes of America where the only nearby place to get food is 7/11 or McDonald's, and where (as in all of rural America) buying a car is effectively compulsory. Coincidentally these are the parts of the country with the highest obesity rates.

[CumbrianLefty]

15 minute cities are not a conspiracy theory, and they certainly have nothing in particular to do with the alt-right.

The entirely innocuous original concept that has been called "15 minute cities" is not, no.

But the conspiracy theory is the completely fantastical "WE WILL BE ALL WALLED INTO OUR HOMES BY ORDER OF THE WEF" nonsense that is, indeed, widely promulgated in alt-right circles.