Capitalist change skeptic.

I saw an article today that describes how Western countries will not meet the environmental targets outlined in the Paris Accord. I'm not surprised about this at all.

Is anybody surprised? Of course no country is close to meeting the target. Capitlism doesn't work that way. Without profit, no capitalist system will make room for targets like these. https://t.co/ciK9ydRklp

— Jeffrey Nordstrom (@jeffnords) November 27, 2018

I'm not surprised for multiple reasons. Here are the most basic reasons I'm not surprised in the slightest:

• CAPITALISM: Capitalism does not make room for anything that doesn't garner a profit. If these targets don't create a profit for shareholders, more profitable pursuits will gain priority.
• TIMING: In capitalist, neoliberal systems, governments prioritize short-term profits over long-term gain. Even if one argues that the profits will appear in the long run, it doesn't matter when shareholders can't see beyond the quarterly report and the electorate can't see beyond the next election.
• HUMAN SHORTSIGHTEDNESS: Humans do not perceive slow-moving, abstract threats as legitimate. Immediate threats will always have priority over distant ones that are hard to imagine,

But these reasons are, in my opinion, well-documented and common. They don't cover the main reason we won't meet these targets. The reasons above are systematically solutionable. We can solve those issues in various, systematic ways. That's what makes it so heartbreaking that we can't seem to get past it.

Here's why I'm not surprised at all that we won't meet the goals lined up in the Paris Climate Accord: because my life hasn't changed. Not one bit. I still drive my car way more than I should; I still keep my apartment warmer than I should; I still buy products like I did before. The Accord hasn't affected me directly one bit. 

How can we expect systematic change when it doesn't affect parts of the system? If the only cost to the accord is the rising price of gasoline, or a little extra inflation, how will we affect change?

I'd say we won't. Until the measures taken to meet those goals force me to change my ways, I can assume we won't meet those goals. As long as I'm insulated from the effects of the accord, Canada won't be acting in a way that lets us meet it.

The article reads,

Failure to slow the pace of climate change will inflict massive dislocation on people around the world, with expectations of prolonged droughts and fires in some regions, and more extreme hurricanes and rain storms in others, climate scientists warn.

All of those symptoms? Those are the most easy things to deny responsibility for. So until I learn to perceive my part in them, I doubt the entire country would be able to pull off a similar mindset shift.