Is Climate Change even possible to change course on?
Background: Friend sent me a link to website today that’s been covered on HN before, looked into it, and based on my estimates, using that technology, it would cost over $100 trillion to get the current global production of carbon dioxide to zero; not mentioning specific tech intentionally, because I am trying to avoid making this post about it alone.
Is Climate Change even possible to change course on? Is the average person able to make a difference, if so, how —if not, what should they know?
Bill Gates' recent book "How to Avoid a Climate Disaster" is a pretty comprehensive look at the landscape of how to change course on climate. I liked it. It's fairly optimistic overall, but it'll definitely take LOTS of large solutions, not just one giant investment even if we had $100 trillion to dump into a single solution. There's no single solution that will solve it, but there are lots of smaller ones that will make a big difference if we move forward on all of them in parallel.
Climate change is not an on/off switch. It's been slowly building up for many years, and even if we somehow manage to reverse the trend, it will get much worse before it gets better. It's too late to avoid some very serious and fatal effects of climate change.
Of course, the planet will be fine, Earth will simply re-adjust, but the human race (and many other species) are going to have a rough time of it.
That said, it's not too late to make a difference. We may have hard times ahead, but we can still avoid a total wipeout, and maybe even preserve the best parts of our civilization and find a more realistic balance with Mother Nature.
As an individual, it's important to moderate your energy use and carbon footprint. There's many ways to do this, and lots of information available about it.
But just as important, if not more important, is to make your voice heard. Vote for candidates who support climate action. Support awareness among your friends and family. Be willing to challenge climate change deniers, or people who want to bury their heads in the sand and say it's no use.
It's like the fourth quarter, and our team is behind, but we still have a chance. Don't be discouraged, have a positive outlook, and we can still turn this thing around.
If we look to colonize another planet as a solution to climate change, we will need to adapt to the atmospheric differences. Why don’t we just adapt to the future different climate here on earth?