I don't believe that anybody in politics cares about anything other than themselves, and trump is the archetype of that personality.
The cause isn't the issue. The fact is that the climate is changing and we are seeing species driven to extinction. Of course human emissions contribute to that. Of course humans burning down the rainforest contributes to that. Of course hunting animals for fun contributes to that. Of course mass farming contributes to that. Of course pollution contributes to that. Of course overfishing contributes to that. Of course millions of acres of concrete contribute to that. Of course fracking contributes to that. Of course nuclear waste contributes to that. You say that a technological solution is required. Well, where is it? Where are all the solar panels? The wind farms? The hydro generators? The geothermal generators? Why are governments still taking billions in lobbying donations from oil companies and fast "food" manufacturers in exchange for the overlooking of their obviously damaging behaviour? Where is the commitment to strip these organisations of their assets and use their money to do what needs to be done? We can solve the climate and energy crisis IMMEDIATELY. The only reason why it isn't happening is because politicians like trump are getting rich and fat off the profits of the oil industry.
So it's not enough. I agree. More restriction on the use of fossil fuel is required, not less.
You might think that 7% in a year is insignificant. I don't. It shows we can reduce it. We have to keep doing that.
I don't believe that this is the right approach to reducing dependence on fossil fuels because human activities still depend on them regardless of where they are carried out.
Don't you think that industry should be under pressure to account for its actions and the environmental damage it causes?
So you want your cake and eat it too. Better trade deals, lower tax, and better quality of life. It isn't going to happen. It's bullshit.
Ok so you don't care about the moral implications of a person's behaviour as long as their actions work out in your own interests.
Prioritising personal and human goals. That's a fucked up distortion of empathy.
I absolutely empathise with people more than I empathise with ice. I can't imagine it being any other way.
The reason why you don't see mountains of solar panels or windmills is because they're a supplementary source of energy - they do not and cannot provide instant energy release like combustion or splitting the atom does. They're inefficient, subject to weather and cannot replace conventional energy sources on the grid as it would completely compromise energy security. All renewables we currently use require energy storage - this means towers of lithium until we invent a better energy storage technology (glass is becoming a very promising candidate, as well as carbon). Lithium means mining and mining means pollution - you're replacing one extracted resource for another, with arguably just as big of an environmental impact due to how it's mined. Hydrogen would be a great fossil fuel replacement if only it didn't require massive amounts of energy to generate in the first place, making it a feedback loop if I've ever seen one. Natural gas also greatly reduces emissions and is objectively a better fuel, but since we have tree huggers protesting that, we're back to square one.
When Germany accelerated its nuclear phase out in 2011, they've reversed decades of green energy impact. SO2 and particulate matter concentration have skyrocketed, leading to approx. 1100 more deaths annually, all because people who are stupid were afraid of the atom after Fukushima. Did pencil pushers do that, or did the engineers who actually know what they're doing? I have a feeling it was the pencil pushers.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottc...s-but-there-is-little-appetite-for-a-rethink/
I'm actually heavily invested in green energy - not on a personal, but on a monetary level, to the tune of a couple grand, so while my money is saving the world, hipster money is making sure coffee shops stay open, and that's fine. It is in my interest, in the most literal sense, for green energy to do well - you have to let that happen instead of advocating for unnecessary roadblocks. Truth of the matter is that green energy is pushed by corporations that have the capital to invest in R&D, and industries will happily switch once price per watt becomes competitive with fossil fuels, which in some scenarios it already has.
As for your "we need to cut back even more than we did during the pandemic" comment, I have to remind you that this crisis caused the suicide rates to go up so high they're at the highest levels recorded. People are getting cabin fever at this point, we can't "live like this", this isn't a "new normal", nor should it be.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-54616688
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/28/asia/japan-suicide-women-covid-dst-intl-hnk/index.html
We have to care for the environment, sure. It would be nice if we didn't kill ourselves in the process. It's nice that you care about melting ice, and about the pictures of all the little sad bears and whatnot, but this is a complicated issue that we won't solve by just saying "well, we need to do more". We've been "doing more" since Gore and very little has changed, so perhaps you should rely less on the pencil pushers and more on literal rocket scientists who are already "on it".
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BigOnYa:
