Tired of feeling hopeless about climate change? Take a look at these charts.
Tired of feeling hopeless about climate change? Take a look at these charts.
Bending climate-data red lines in a more positive direction will take “stubborn optimism” and fast action.
Hate to be a party pooper, but for me, failed attempts at trumpeting optimism are often the most pessimistic and depressing things for me.
I’m all for gritty stubbornness and all that, but a lot of these charts looked clearly like trivial “we’re doing our best!” defensiveness to me. Starting with EV sales (which I presume are mostly cars but that could be wrong) didn’t help. And the final yearly CO2 emissions doesn’t look promising either.
Getting people to act makes a lot of sense. But “back in my day” that was done by talking about the actual viable solutions on offer and telling people they can demand better by demanding these solutions. A vague “hey look the system is kinda working” statement strikes me as depressingly vacuous.
Am I off base here?
EV sales stats in this article do appear to be electric car sales, even though electric-assist bicycles make up the bulk of electric vehicle sales.
I'd say that they're pointing out that some of the things we are doing are starting to succeed in a meaningful way. That's a big deal, even if we haven't gotten to the point of bending the curve of atmospheric CO2 concentrations.
even if we haven’t gotten to the point of bending the curve of atmospheric CO2 concentrations.
Nothing else matters. This is the bottom line, period, full stop. We've had promises and technological developments and "positive trends" for decades now, and CO2 emissions have just continued going up and up and up. All the while, our governments continue to subsidize fossil fuels to the tune of trillions of dollars, approve record numbers of oil and gas drilling permits on public lands, and don't take any meaningful action to address climate change. I don't want to hear any more of this garbage about how we're "starting to succeed." We're like thirty years behind where we should be.
The article didn't start bad. But then the author didn't get the right conclusion.
Yes, the current climate data are devastating. Yes, there is also development in some (mostly rich) countries. But to put this into perspective: while the rate of GHG emmissions need to drop faster than they did 2020 during the pandemic, they are just stagnating in developed countries while rising in developing countries. Globally carbon emissions are still rising.
The reality is: the climate is changing faster than anticipated and the transition away from fossil fuels is nowhere near fast enough. We need to stop emitting GHG basically yesterday. Instead we bury the 1.5 °C target and hope for carbon sinks to help us get to net zero. Both natural sinks as also artificial sinks. Artificial sinks are still extremely expensive and ineffective while the remaining natural carbon sinks get destroyed and turn into carbon emitters.
What would need to happen is a massive effort through all society in every country. That would also mean for first world countries to not only forgive debts of poor countries, but also at least help financing poor countries transition.
The majority of people are just starting to take climate change seriously and the threat is still underestimated by most.
No, this is not the time for stubborn optimism. This is the time for worry. This is the time for anger. This is the time to reject pledges and promises by governments and demand actual action and legislative change. Being optimistic won't help us change.
Same content on archive.ph.