Killing heat, massive storms, drought, forest fires are not the result of "society" not the result of population, or "growth," or billionaires, or modern society.
Its carbon fuels. Oil is made of carbon, burning carbon adds two atoms to the carbon atom, oxygen atoms. C becomes a heavier, able to hold more heat, CO2.
We have a physics problem. It will kill us all.
We must build energy systems without carbon. So we stop adding CO2, because its burning Canada to ash, cooking Texans.
Oil is carbon, Coal is carbon, natural gas is carbon, propane is carbon. We get power from these but mking them "burn."
Burn is adding oxygen, oxygenation. If we burn carbon we make co2.
There are other forms of energy all around us. Sun falls onto us free, more energy lands on us everyday than we use from all sources.
Like oil just sitting there, we can collect sun light, just like we collect oil. Store it, ship it, sell it. Wind is waiting to be collected.
Build it now
We INSIST
> Like oil just sitting there, we can collect sun light, just like we collect oil. Store it, ship it, sell it. Wind is waiting to be collected.
You're making it sound as if using wind and solar generated electricity is as easy as using fossil fuels. It is not, at least not yet.
Try flying with an electricity powered plane. Try buying stuff at your local grocery store that's been trucked from the port with an electric truck. Try mining copper or any other material needed to produce wind turbines and solar panels with electricity powered machines/vehicles. And so on.
Yes, the technology to do all these things exists. But currently doing these things would drive up costs of end products so much, that people just would be able to afford them.
Yes, using fossil fuels leads to CO2 and other emissions, which is bad. But in many applications there's effectively no viable alternative to fossil fuels yet.
Telling people that politicians "just" need to decide to build more wind turbines and solar panels and soon everything will run on cheap renewable electricity will not change physics/thermodynamics.
It will however distract people from what is currently the most feasible way to cut emissions: less consumption and #degrowth
@kevinrns @iLikeAltitude It really isn't that simple.
Storage is still the problem. Fingers crossed for flow cells...
@kevinrns
Typo in third paragraph. Should've read: "wouldn't"
Yes, the technology to do all these things exists. But currently doing these things would drive up costs of end products so much, that people just wouldn't be able to afford them.