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I have a friend with two daughters in their late teens, early 20s. I asked him the other day how they felt about climate change. He said they believed it was happening, but they don't think it's nearly as bad as "the media makes out". He added, "You know, we went through the Cold War and fear of nuclear annihilation and that didn't happen, so..." We were interrupted then so I didn't get to yell at him. But I think a lot of people think that way. Pffft, probably won't happen, news orgs exaggerating for clicks, someone will fix it etc etc. While shrugging at all the floods and fires and storms happening around the globe, and booking a cheap flight to Malaga. It's exasperating!
If it helps to know, a lot of people around that age are also very aware of what's going on. Many of us are also mortified at the thought of what's to come in 20-50 years.
I think that every generation needs to get out and actually vote to if we want to have a chance at even reducing the damage. It should be more shocking to people that the effects of climate change continue to be worse than scientists predicted. What are we going to do if the 50-100 year climate prediction is also too optimistic?
I think that a lot of people might forget that they might still be around to feel the effects of all of this. I don't know about you, but I'm really not looking forwards to dealing with the intense weather when I'm old and frail. It's going to really suck for other at-risk groups, too.
Another side of the environmental concerns is being forgotten too often, imo. What are we going to do with all of these forever chemicals? The great lakes have recommended safe intake limits for fish caught there. There is mercury, PCBS, PFAS, and lots of other nasty stuff in our soil and water. There was a large amount of time where the industrial sector was practically unregulated, so a lot of things were dumped in bad places. If these things are known to cause severe health issues and reproductive problems in humans, they're probably going to mess up animals too. We should also think about all of the disposal sites that may not have been discovered yet. I hope they are testing for that more now. My grandfather's house was unknowingly built on land that was severely contaminated with TCE. They know now, but people lived there for years without a clue!
Scary times.
-asks friend about opinion on topic
-friend gives somewhat reasonable if wrong opinion
-gets mad he didn't have the chance to "yell at him"
Sounds like a shit friend move.
Just a note, I think you're taking their comment too literally. Like educate him in a friendly way. When you give shit to friends, it can be friendly. Different than giving shit to strangers.