[amilios]

I think the issue is feedback loops. You're right that eventually governments will be "forced" to do the "right thing", but the problem is that it is likely going to be too little too late, and the climate feedback loops already set in motion may indeed "finish the job" and make the planet too inhospitable for any humans to feasibly live on.

[kulahan]

I don't think I've seen many (any?) studies which predict that we're going to scorch the Earth into an unlivable hellhole. That's what people are complaining about.

There will be mass starvations, mass migrations, mass extinctions, and more, but that doesn't mean life will cease for humans. We will see worse storms, and a generally less livable planet, but if we can have both Eskimos and Bedouin thriving on the same planet, it's weird to think we'd suddenly lose our extreme adaptability.

[djtango]

2000 years ago leaving the Middle East/Europe to go to America would have been as insurmountable as moving to the Moon today.

Humanity has gone through cycles of famine, war, exploration in the past. Feels like this could be the 21st Century parallel maybe...

Probably would also help to have a single figure who can unite us to share more and all take personal responsibility for the collective good.

[willio58]

> Probably would also help to have a single figure who can unite us to share more and all take personal responsibility for the collective good.

Part of me feels like climate change is this single figure. Instead of a single person rising up and saying "We need change and this is how we do it", it's the planet that we all share that's forcing our hand. I think that's great in a certain respect, it's reality smacking us and screaming into our faces. Of course it will mean a lot of death, but sometimes it seems we need to experience loss to stimulate progress.

[amilios]

OK sure life won't cease as a whole for humans, but living standards for the vast majority of us will enter freefall and stabilize at a MUCH much lower level than we're used to.