We know... but can anyone really do anything? We reguraly get scientific breakthroughs that may help, but are too new to meet the scale required. We regurally hear PSA like "Recycling helps" or "Only you can prevent forest fires" but once again, the scale of the issue is far larger than paper straws or other feel good wishcycling programs. We reguraly see that the ~100 companies directly responsible for the problems not suffering any concequences, investigations into wrong doings are met with armies of lawyers, lobbyists (see bribery), and limp-wristed regulations with fines that are considered "the cost of doing business" instead of a penalty to be avoided.
For me, the fear and panic of impending climate collapse has given way to apathy and resignation. We know its a problem, its just that the scale requires real global action, its a global prisoner's dilemma, and im not confident people will get it right.
Unfortunately, even if we stopped using all petroleum products right this second, there's still that nasty 50 year lag between emissions and atmospheric outcome. We'll be seeing the Earth get hotter and hotter for many years to come before it changes, and by that time, the cascading system failures of Earth's biomes may be well past the point of no return.
there’s still that nasty 50 year lag between emissions and atmospheric outcome
Are you sure about that?
Humans have caused major climate changes to happen already, and we have set in motion more changes still. However, if we stopped emitting greenhouse gases today, the rise in global temperatures would begin to flatten within a few years. Temperatures would then plateau but remain well-elevated for many, many centuries. There is a time lag between what we do and when we feel it, but that lag is less than a decade. https://climate.nasa.gov/faq/16/is-it-too-late-to-prevent-climate-change/
We don't have 100 years to get on the right track. Soon, a global heating feedback loop will become prominent enough that it will make "the right track" an ineffective solution.
Eh, we will try to geo engineer our way out when it becomes apparent (everyone agrees even those batshit insane gopers) that we are well and truly fucked.