I'm not sure there's a switch we can flip that turns people from apathetic to supporting a panic-driven set of aggressive and durable legislation to address climate change. The effects of climate change are too long term and stochastic for voters to link policy with their everyday lived experience. Even in Australia at this very moment, only about half of people think Australia should do more about climate change, and it's unclear how many of them would actually prioritize that over other things they value.
I personally believe that a key switch we can try flipping is universal basic income. The reasoning is not obvious.
Basically, I think we live in a world now where almost everyone is stuck in tunnel vision for surviving today. For example, we have studies now that show significant drops in IQ when people are stressed about how they're going to be paying bills. If the vast majority is struggling financially, they literally might be made dumber and less able to think about complex problems.
If we change the rules in a way that effectively says, nobody is getting left behind and nobody is dying of poverty, then maybe, that will be enough to give the masses the breathing room to look up and see long term risks bearing down upon us.
Maybe not, but I think it's worth a shot.
That's why I'm all in on Andrew Yang. He's the only candidate who gives me a semblance of hope for waking everyone up so that we can try to solve these problems.
I also see this connection.
On a game theoretical level, it doesn't pay off for the individual to make a personal effort, unless the right incentives are in place.
The status quo would be a great opportunity for a drastic policy switch: introduce correct pricing of resources (nomore externalizing) and "recycle" the generated income as an UBI.
If you do the pricing only (even if just small amounts), you get yellow vests.
If you do the UBI only, you would likely just boost consumption and even aggravate the ecological problem.
But combined, it could be the solution the world is looking for.
Society is in no way set up to support UBI. Everyone gets $1000 and then rent, food, and everything else become more expensive.
Instead focus should be on guaranteeing necessities like healthcare with Medicare For All, relinquishing student loan debt, and making public college free to attend. Bernie is the only one focused on universal coverage for all of these things.
Yang supports Universal Healthcare as a key attachment to UBI. [1]
He does care about the student loan problem, but has a less aggressive and more nuanced plan than blanket forgiveness. [2]
Traditional college is not a necessity for most people. We should be pushing for more trade school participation like most of Europe does and train people for skilled labor that won't be automated any time soon. [3]
Most importantly, Bernie doesn't seem to even want to acknowledge the coming wave of automation. And somehow, he thinks that a $15 minimum wage won't just accelerate the drive to automate jobs. Higher wages also does nothing to help stay at home parents or caretakers (mostly women) who find themselves completely dependent on their breadwinner.
