| There is actually a very simple solution to reduce consumption: The carbon tax. Massively reducing consumption means, for instance:
* Eating less meat
* Frequent flyers massively reducing long haul flights across the world
* Getting rid of energy inefficient appliances, such as old refrigerators Seriously, the pareto principle applies here to, most of the emissions come from a small percentage of people. If you think about these things from a carbon budget perspective: Whenever you take a flight you effectively rob the poorest of the world of the possibility to use fossil fuels as a way to increase their welfare. A 2 degrees increase will kill a lot of people. And this will only get worse with a 4 degrees increase. And it will disproportionally effect the poorest of the world. An average warming of 4 degrees means massive warming of the land surface across the globe (Much more than 4 degrees, since most of the earth's surface is covered by water). The heat wave of 2003 killed tens of thousands in developed Europe. Imagine the heat waves we will get in a 4 degrees world. Our infrastructure is not built for this. Our asphalt roads, train tracks, water pipes, emergency services will all struggle with this. A city like London has maybe food for 3 days. |