Predatory Delay

My Twitter round-ups are long and I'm sure overwhelming... they overwhelm me, that's for sure. Here's a tweet you may have missed from last month:

The very weirdest take on climate equity is the notion that if some guy has built his financial plans on continued climate predatory delay, he should be compensated when real action begins — like, it's "unjust" that *his* high-CO2 investment/job doesn't last long enough to pay out. Climate action/preparation — where SUCCESSFUL — will mean massive, disruptive changes to how and where we live, build cities, make things, grow food, get around and power our societies. The idea that *slowing* any of these changes will lead to a more equitable outcome is insanity. When "just transition" is used to mean "delays that benefit workers and investors in unsustainable industries" it become dangerous nonsense.
Alex Steffen

Predatory delay: Alex Steffen's phrase is sticking with me, and it applies to so many aspects of our current public policy, from parking to pipelines.

Here's another favorite recent quote:

It is now impossible to be realistic about both the political climate and the physics of climate. One must decide which carries more weight and be profoundly unrealistic about the other.
Shaun Chamberlain (@darkoptimism)

This applies not only to climate change, but to anti-science and antiscientific thinking generally. If reality has any weight (and it does — it's just a matter of how soon we feel it and who feels it most), then political "reality" cannot be used as an excuse anymore. Anything else is predatory delay.