[malthuswaswrong]

That's how you know none of this is real. If mankind was actually on the brink of extinction all options would be on the table. Especially one that offers free unlimited energy. Mankind does not have an energy generation problem. It only has an energy storage problem.

[DisjointedHunt]

It could both be real and at the same time be true that these people don’t care.

They simply want to use to genuine concern around climate to further their own ends.

[malthuswaswrong]

Agreed. It could also be real but no where near as serious as they are claiming. Mankind went from the first manned flight to footprints on the moon in 60 years. I'm not losing any sleep about a mathematically insignificant projection that may or may not lead to something 100 years from now. 100 years from now if they want terraforming to strictly regulate the climate it should be well within their capabilities.

Again, these people aren't serious. And their actions prove how the threat is either not real at all, or extremely distant to the point of being irrelevant for us.

[catlikesshrimp]

I will be inmoral this once

If climate change wasn't a real threat... they would act as you said.

If climate change was a real threat to humanity... they would still act in spite of it. Tragedy of the commons. What is a better future? Having done your part, when nobody did, and facing a broken world with a broken economy OR Helped kill the world environment but playing an even field?

That has been China's stance all along, anyways.

The only reason to move toward "renewables" is to not depend on fossil fuel imports. It is about sovereignity, not about morality.

[malthuswaswrong]

I don't disagree with any of that. People should pursue alternate energy sources. However world governments should not be putting their fingers on the scales in favor of green energy. Legislators who also just happen to have financial investments in these same new technologies. Yet another reason to be skeptical. Everyone points their fingers at the oil industry for the studies they fund, but Al Gore was a hair's width away from becoming the world's first green billionaire when he tried to pass a law forcing companies to exchange carbon credits and he was a 40% owner in carbon exchange network that would mediate it.

Green energy is making advancements. Unfortunately for them the fossil fuel industry continues to make advancements as well. Every year they get better at drilling, better at harvesting, better at converting from crude to fuel, better at burning, better at extracting energy from what is burned. At least a dozen different metrics get 2% better year over year which keeps fossil fuels competitive and makes it harder for other sources of energy to replace it.

Which is fine. It's all fine. I just want the best energy available. And the way our civilization has historically measured the "best" is through the free market. Green will win eventually. No need to rush it prematurely. It will happen.

[drclau]

> Mankind does not have an energy generation problem.

No, humankind does not have an energy generation problem. The problem is the side effects of the methods used to generate the energy.

The existential risk is very real, but because it’s still far in the future, only very few people perceive it as such.

Covid is a great example of how incapable humans are to perceive dangers that are far in space and/or time.

[neither_color]

That's how I interpreted it. If the end of the world was being triggered in 10 years we would use any and all options at our disposal, even experimental ones, all concurrently. We have enough labor and resources to go all in on energy production.

[drclau]

I think what you see, and quite likely misinterpret, is world leaders who are still waking up to the issue. I think most of them have not yet fully internalized what the climate crisis truly means (and even if they do, maybe some just are not able to care enough). It is good they at least are starting to do so, and I hope they won't lose momentum.

The climate crisis is likely the greatest challenge humankind has faced so far. I am starting to think that only true SF fans can actually process this information. It seems one needs to have thought about it for a while before being hit with this information (existential threat to our civilization), to be able to process it fast. SF may have provided people with the prerequisites to understand the situation. Or, alternatively, maybe people who are capable of thinking far into the future are drawn to SF.