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Climate Change

lostmyway

Do you think there will ever be a genuine, concerted attempt to tackle climate change, and if not, what does the future hold for humanity?

  • A considerable amount has been done already. CFC use has plummeted improving the ozone layer of the atmosphere. Fossil fuel usage globally peaked in 2023 and is now plateauing and before 2030 it will have begun to decline. Wind, hydro and solar power are cheaper than fossil fuels and there will be an economically driven move towards these, regardless of international agreements. Nuclear fusion is beginning to look feasible and if there is a breakthrough in commercially practicable fusion, then a cheap, infinite and pollution free energy source will be available.

  • lostmyway said:
    Do you think there will ever be a genuine, concerted attempt to tackle climate change

    No,

    There will be some countries who make the effort but these are likely to be countries who contribute a tiny amount towards global warming and it will not make a meaningful change.

    What is driving it is economics - the oil industry being a major player in encouraging petrochemical fuelled vehicles. For those who have battery powered vehicles then there is still a huge carbon footprint for the manufacture and eventual disposal of the vehicle plus the electricity to charge it comes from a lot of sources which are often petrochemical based.

    The demand on the power grid will also require a lot of power stations in the very near future which can only really be readily supplied by recommissioning old coal or petrochemical based plants as there is just nowhere near enough renewable supplies in the pipeline and a massive amount of data centres are being built.

    Right wing governments are on the rise in a lot of the world and they historically have strong ties to industry, especially those who contribute to the party, so expect petrochemical companies to remain favoured for a very long time.

    Developing nations such as China, India and large parts of Africa are unlikely to be interested in cutting their growth to meet climate change needs, especially when it would give them a disadvantage to the other nations who decide to ignore this - these economies want their slice of success and are unlikely to worry about something that will have little effect on them.

    Sorry to paint such a bleak picture but these are the forces that will keep the current climate trends on track as I can see it.

  • Not sure. Not to be a debbie-downer, but I’m unconvinced even if we do that we can stop it.

    However, I am optimistic that even if our average temperature rises several degrees that humans will not go extinct. Civilization as we know it will obviously change and a drastic drop in food production will cause widespread famine, but humanity will not be completely obliterated and will eventually bounce back.