The Kuwaiti oil fires were caused by the Iraqi military setting fire to a reported 605 to 732 oil wells along with an unspecified number of oil filled low-lying areas...The fires were started in January and February 1991, and the first oil well fires were extinguished in early April 1991, with the last well capped on November 6, 1991.
It was predicted by experts that the fires would burn for between two and five years before losing pressure and going out on their own.
Although scenarios that predicted long-lasting environmental impacts on a global atmospheric level due to the burning oil sources did not transpire, long-lasting ground level oil spill impacts were detrimental to the environment regionally.
Over the years, I have read story after story after story where the initial predictions were extremely dire and everyone was extremely upset and concerned and when things got cleared up in relatively short order, there was no celebration on par with the amount of bellyaching that occurred. But if you try to say anything like that, you get dismissed as a clueless nutter who just does not understand how bad things are.
So regardless of how bad it really is, we still are emphasizing things in a way that is inaccurate and excessively negative.
Ever heard the expression - only paranoid survives? Maybe it's a reasonable strategy to cry wolf 100 times, out of which 99 times no wolf materializes.
Look at the recent catastrophes, from 2008 financial crisis, to COVID, to the currently raging war - who would have guessed? So we might be emphasizing things in a way that is inaccurate and excessively positive.
I have an incurable genetic disorder. I take extreme measures daily to address it. I have no problem with taking appropriate precautions in the face of issues.
But I see no reason to wallow in the negativity in this way. It does not appear to be curtailing anyone's carbon footprint.
All it appears to do is prevent us from having meaningful, constructive conversations because any attempt to talk about solutions gets shot down as "not enough" and "won't make any real difference" and "we are all doomed anyway, so why bother?"
Sadly quite a lot of people predicted the broad strokes of the 2008 financial crisis, COVID and Ukraine war, although you can always argue that they should have predicted things more precisely.
- Crisis. It was just yet another round of banks making bad loans then getting bailed out by the government leading to a recession as credit was withdrawn. This has happened many times before and that it would happen again was obvious (and it will keep happening).
- "Scientists create virus that escapes and causes pandemic" was not only predicted but was such an obvious possibility that it was a sci-fi staple. Even if for some reason you still deny the lab origin, Gates/WHO and friends had spent the previous decade predicting a mega-pandemic of respiratory virus, albeit usually of flu rather than a coronavirus.
- Ukraine war, well ... there was not a shortage of words written about Russia over the past decade. And western intelligence did predict it I think, albeit only a few days in advance.
Crying wolf definitely has downsides. It's a children's parable for a reason.
It was predicted by experts that the fires would burn for between two and five years before losing pressure and going out on their own.
Although scenarios that predicted long-lasting environmental impacts on a global atmospheric level due to the burning oil sources did not transpire, long-lasting ground level oil spill impacts were detrimental to the environment regionally.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuwaiti_oil_fires
Over the years, I have read story after story after story where the initial predictions were extremely dire and everyone was extremely upset and concerned and when things got cleared up in relatively short order, there was no celebration on par with the amount of bellyaching that occurred. But if you try to say anything like that, you get dismissed as a clueless nutter who just does not understand how bad things are.
So regardless of how bad it really is, we still are emphasizing things in a way that is inaccurate and excessively negative.