The world is NOT going to reduce emissions in any meaningful way. China and India (and recently the nuclear-phobic Germans) have all embraced King Coal.
The world WILL run this climate experiment.
Cheap energy makes life easier. While elite westerners drive Tesla's to wind and solar conferences, 3 billion of the world's poor demand coal powered air conditioning and inexpensive gas/diesel vehicles.
The solution, if the enviro left was serious and numerate, was nuclear power to relplace coal and natural gas as a cleaner replacement for combustion uses.
I am skeptical we will address climate in any meaningful way. This is a global issue which needs governments' to address at a societal level.
For the USA, unfortunately, we have an absurd mix of philosophies which will continue to undermine a concerted society level effort.
1. outright climate change deniers have too much influence
2. too many with vested (read financial) interest in maintaining fossil fuels have too much influence
3. the wealthy who always seem to avoid consequences of such issues because they can afford the individual means to alleviate the imact on their lives
4. the American "individual should work to make an impact" attitude -i.e. that it is up to individuals to do their part only if THEY want to
5. the "how do we pay for it" crowd which really means "we don't want to do it"
6. Finally,the gradual nature of climate change and climate chaos- unlike nuclear war, which is almost instantaneous, climate is such a long term change that the impact is the proverbial "frog in a pot of water" effect
I think most of the environmental field appreciates the need for climate adaptation, particularly as we are already experiencing the first wave of climate disasters. But there is a clear psychological and tactical advantage to focusing much more on the opportunity to prevent the situation from becoming much, much worse - and there’s no guarantee it’ll stop at 2 degrees and not lead to levels of disaster that will shake global civilization to its core. At some point, the planning would need to include things nobody is ready to contemplate, like mass migration and abandoning entire cities.
The world is NOT going to reduce emissions in any meaningful way. China and India (and recently the nuclear-phobic Germans) have all embraced King Coal.
The world WILL run this climate experiment.
Cheap energy makes life easier. While elite westerners drive Tesla's to wind and solar conferences, 3 billion of the world's poor demand coal powered air conditioning and inexpensive gas/diesel vehicles.
The solution, if the enviro left was serious and numerate, was nuclear power to relplace coal and natural gas as a cleaner replacement for combustion uses.
Indeed- we got behind the curve as soon as we abandoned nuclear power!
I am skeptical we will address climate in any meaningful way. This is a global issue which needs governments' to address at a societal level.
For the USA, unfortunately, we have an absurd mix of philosophies which will continue to undermine a concerted society level effort.
1. outright climate change deniers have too much influence
2. too many with vested (read financial) interest in maintaining fossil fuels have too much influence
3. the wealthy who always seem to avoid consequences of such issues because they can afford the individual means to alleviate the imact on their lives
4. the American "individual should work to make an impact" attitude -i.e. that it is up to individuals to do their part only if THEY want to
5. the "how do we pay for it" crowd which really means "we don't want to do it"
6. Finally,the gradual nature of climate change and climate chaos- unlike nuclear war, which is almost instantaneous, climate is such a long term change that the impact is the proverbial "frog in a pot of water" effect
I think most of the environmental field appreciates the need for climate adaptation, particularly as we are already experiencing the first wave of climate disasters. But there is a clear psychological and tactical advantage to focusing much more on the opportunity to prevent the situation from becoming much, much worse - and there’s no guarantee it’ll stop at 2 degrees and not lead to levels of disaster that will shake global civilization to its core. At some point, the planning would need to include things nobody is ready to contemplate, like mass migration and abandoning entire cities.