Climate change

[KevinM1]

Again, Nica, you are referring to the myth of the golden age, that somehow...... things used to be better, and we are now at the precipice of oblivion.  This has been a narrative for some time, it is not an original idea, and it is not, in any way imaginable, true.  It is better now than it has ever been for us, period.  That you see the world, and our situation in it in this manner is indicative of your religious upbringing, not the actual state of the world or the people within it.

Your parents raised you to believe in goblins...............I'm not sure how seriously you ought to take that, or why you would be looking for confirmation in climate science.......as to whether or not goblins exist.  If there really were a golden age, and things used to be better, and we were now on that precipice.......would that mean that goblins existed?

Yup.  If there's one constant with humanity, is that our constant appeals to the pastoral - things used to be simpler, easier, clearer, taste better, feel better back at some arbitrary point (usually the "my day" of whomever is talking) - still has this weird emotional tug on us.  I think it's due to psychology.  We felt things were clearer/better before because we didn't really know what was going on in our lives or in the world when we were younger, which is when our personality forms and important memories start taking hold.  I could be talking out of my ass on that, though.

The LDS teachings seem to have simply grabbed that idea, pressed pause on the time before a global crisis at the start of the previous century, and magnified how awesome that time was, even when, factually, it was actually really shitty for a lot of reasons.  Kind of like how 1950's Americana is still held up as the pinnacle of our culture by many.  Unless you're non-white.  Or a woman.  Or non-straight.  Or not cisgendered.

But, like I said to Nic in the thread in the atheist subsection, by every metric that matters, this is the golden age.  Preventable diseases are being prevented.  Access to clean water, food, shelter, and information has never been more universal.  People are living not just longer lives, but more meaningful lives thanks to modern medical tech (including, but not limited to, wheelchairs, joint replacement, prosthetics, etc.).

That doesn't mean there aren't problems.  That doesn't mean there isn't more work to be done.  But it does mean that, in every way that matters, life in 2015 is better than life in 1914 and earlier.  Objectively speaking.  And, yes, that accounts for climate change.  It accounts for ISIS.  The world wasn't carefree and bloodless before 1914.