We stil “could” limit the damage. We won’t.
IPCC declared 1.5C wasn’t feasible a few years ago. I don’t recall the year, but it’s the same report when they said that the limit would be broken, but we’d find a way to pull it back down eventually with future tech. Or as some call it, “magic”.
It’s just copium. “But we can still…” i.e. things that won’t happen anyway because they already did not happen before and are for sure going the reverse way under Trump. The few people who claim to care need to stop making themselves hopeful and happy with delusions, it’s not going to help. We’d need severe extreme measures now, things the general public would not want. That’s just the unfortunate truth of it, but one that people have to realize. Just like how people need to realize how many people want far right fascists like Trump, or the garbage parties in Europe. Things will get much worse now.
It’s the same problem as “minimum wage” in the US; The goalpost moves further away as nothing is accomplished.
“BuT AI aNd QuAnTuM cOmPuTeRs WiLl SoLvE cLiMaTe ChAnGe.” as if AI is going to magically convince governments profitting trillions of dollars to stop the oil industries.
spoiler
We won’t limit the damage.
So…uh…is everyone ready to join those of us slandered as “doomers” in reality now? Nothing of significance has been done or is being done, and this problem is not going away. It is only going to get worse. Unless everyone joins us in reality, it is over. I’m not exactly hopeful, as the “I hate all science” party just swept both houses, along with the presidency and they already had the courts.
The EU had an 8% decline in emissions last year. That is roughly in line with meeting the 1.5C target and mainly done using reasonable policy.
China also invests a lot in Green technology. With the trade war, it is certainly possible that the Chinese economy crashes, which would mean lower energy consumption growth and hence lower Chinese emissions.
There also is a strong chance that Trump launches a massive war in the Middle East. He loves Israel and bombing Arabs. If that includes attacks on oil and gas infrastructure, that could be great for the climate(although horrible on so many other levels).
Valid, though in some cases dark, points. The US is one of, if not the largest, per capita emitters on the planet, though. Our military alone is a top emitter. I just find the outlook for meaningful change in this country grim and the effects we’ve already begone to see from climate change are pretty severe.
The unbelievably massive amounts of heat, pollution and environmental destruction from war is not currently ‘great for the climate’. Ww3 and bombing oil and gas infrastructures is not going to change that.
The EU had an 8% decline in emissions last year.
The US peaked at 23.1 tonnes of carbon emissions per capita in 1973. It came off that peak but stayed pretty flat through 2007 or so, at 20.2 tonnes per person. Since then, it’s steadily come down, and is now at about 14.9.
There’s still a long way to go, but the 35% reduction that the US has already accomplished shows that it’s possible to keep making progress.
“ok… we broke yet another goal we set for ourselves. But we can still limit damage!!”
How many times does this have to repeat before we can’t limit the damage anymore
Well, we can always limit the damage because the damage only goes up if we don’t.
Aure, but I get tired of the rhetoric, like there’s never any actual consequences for breaking the limits. The people responsible just keep on chugging along
Totally with you.
When the damage is bad enough to kill us all
And in 2025 we will continue to pump and invest hundrends of billions of dollars into fossil and oil industries and states … fucking clown governments
Sure, we can still limit the damage… if we “get rid” of Trump.
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We already did that (large-scale fossil fuel mining) and it’s what got us into this mess in the first place. There’s a saying that goes “when you find yourself in a hole, the first thing you do is top digging.” You cannot fix a problem and continue actively making it worse at the same time. It just doesn’t fucking work.
In other words, there is no “geoengineering” that will make any damn sense what-so-fucking-ever until we literally stop digging!
