Andrew Yang's hyper-conservative climate views show his Silicon Valley roots

[pnwmom]

https://psmag.com/ideas/andrew-yangs-seek-higher-ground-climate-statement-shows-his-silicon-valley-roots

Many climate communicators tend to hate this kind of defeatist messaging, and a few have panned Yang for it. Brian Kahn at Earther called Yang's statement the "most chilling moment of [the] night," and The Atlantic's Robinson Meyer pointed out that Yang's argument was "hyper-conservative." Meyer goes on to say that the argument "does not strike me as one well chosen for a party whose voters care about climate change and who are moving to the left."

Meyer is right; Yang's message is not good for the Democratic Party. His short argument on Wednesday was that, since it's already too late to combat the effects of climate change, we should "start moving our people to higher ground. And the best way to do that is to put economic resources into your hands so you can protect yourself and your families."


SNIP

But to Yang, we're already too far in. To some of his Silicon Valley followers who might have read about Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk's respective plans to colonize space as a back-up for if-slash-when the Earth is rendered uninhabitable, Yang's unvarnished "honesty" about the depth of the issue might prove appealing. Remember that he's making this pitch to a group of socially atomized tech devotees; if they wanted social democracy or climate fixes that didn't lean on market competition, they'd be canvassing for Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren.

When we consider the particular kind of people who constitute such devoted parts of Yang's base, then, Yang's argument from Wednesday makes sense. "It's too late to save the Earth" is not the kind messaging that most climate communicators favor, but it's in line with Yang's seemingly pragmatic style of communicating: Climate change is inevitable, and it's already too late to fix it. Thursday, in an interview with CNN, he defended his position by saying that he was "just telling it like it is." For his followers, no candidate can do that like Yang.

[crazytown]

1. The words 'too late' are the problem.

A 2°C rise in average temperatures is on the way. Achieving world wide net zero emissions by 2050 will not change that. Planning for that future is more than sensible, but does sound like defeatism.

[Voltaire2]

2. He's not wrong about the too late part.

We are in the catastrophe stage. He also said we need to do everything we can to stop making things worse and to mitigate the disaster.

Were fucked. Leaders need to be straight with the people about this.

[pnwmom]

3. We're too late to prevent 2 degrees but we're NOT TOO LATE to keep it from

getting even worse.

And his "plan" for moving everyone inland is worse than any plan at all. Who's going to buy the worthless land that's underwater?

[Voltaire2]

4. There will be millions perhaps billions of

refugees, and many coastal cities around the world will in fact be underwater.

Mostly our leaders are either criminal liars or in denial about where we are headed.

We aren’t going to stop at 2. 4 is much more likely. But 2 is still a disaster.

[pnwmom]

5. 2 will be terrible. But Yang's defeatist attitude will only allow the situation

to become immeasurably worse.

[Voltaire2]

6. You mean his realism and honesty.

Yeah he’s not going to win any elections but he is likely the brightest and most honest person running.

[pnwmom]

7. There's zero evidence that he's the brightest of the candidates, or the most honest --

Last edited Tue Aug 6, 2019, 11:32 PM - Edit history (2)

in a field that includes people like Elizabeth Warren, Julian Castro, and Cory Booker, among others.

Making a bunch of money doesn't make you the brightest or the most honest.

https://heavy.com/news/2019/06/andrew-yang-net-worth/

In a recent financial disclosure form, Yang shared that his assets are worth from $834,000 to $2.4 million. Most of that is from a property he has in Hudson Valley, The Wall Street Journal reported.

His official disclosure from Open Secrets lists his net worth as ranging from $584,047 to $2.276 million, according to a disclosure sent in May 2019.

Assets include earnings for books he’s written, shares in the stock market, retirement accounts, and the like. He also has assets in Apple, Lending Club, iRobot, Digitl Realty, Verizon, Vodafone, bonds, and more.