So that leaves really one solution, which is attempting to reduce the amount of existing emissions to stop the rise to some degree, basically prolonging the enviable.
I personally think we probably need to just let it happen so we as a species can grow, or at least grow for a few hundred years till we forget.
The issue is not really people. The worst emitters are out of reach from us.
It’s good to make people more conscious of their environmental impact but what good does it really make when what is saved is a minute of energy production by the average Chinese coal power plant.
People who want food, transportation, electricity, heat, concrete, etc.
As you can see the most emitting sector is energy production. That’s mostly driven by countries using coal as energy source and countries with significant oil and gas reserves. It is a lever at the strategical and political level. Same with industry where gains are mostly achieved through regulation.
Construction is direly in need of innovation regarding its emission but unless you want people to sleep in the street remains somewhat unavoidable.
That leaves agricultures where people have a huge role to play by consuming less meat and somewhat transportation (even if that’s actually extremely linked to the offer of effective public transport).
For the rest and as much as I would like to believe in it, most actions I see people doing are actually fairly inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. I’m a bit annoyed by it because it somehow lulls people into thinking they are doing something for the problem while the actual issues stay unaddressed.
Not that the US shouldn't also stop burning coal, mind you. Same with Germany.
We’ve been burning coal for hundreds of years and around 150 to make electricity. To suggest that others should do much less than we did and continue to do is, IMO, unreasonable to the point of being absurd.
Well then I’m being absurd because we are sharing the same planet and the fact remains that they are stupidly burning coal. The fact that they are late to the party doesn’t magically make it stop affecting all of us.
There is no place for virtue signalling here. At some point, some serious pressure will have to be put on countries which are not sorting their shit out or we will all pay the price.
A carbon tax could be imposed on companies selling products made using manufacturing processes that result in emitting CO2, regardless of where it's manufactured
e.g. American company C developed Phone P, sent it to china for cheap manufacturing costs, and sells ot to US people. C should pay a carbon tax to be allowed to sell that device.
Whether the company will pass that tax on the consumer or not or irrelevant.
I know... These are horrible, horrible ideas. And they really reinforce the "people don't care about the environment" thing, too. Maybe someone has better ideas?