this post was submitted on 07 Nov 2024
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So...uh...is everyone ready to join those of us slandered as "doomers" in reality now? Nothing of significance has been done or is being done, and this problem is not going away. It is only going to get worse. Unless everyone joins us in reality, it is over. I'm not exactly hopeful, as the "I hate all science" party just swept both houses, along with the presidency and they already had the courts.
The EU had an 8% decline in emissions last year. That is roughly in line with meeting the 1.5C target and mainly done using reasonable policy.
China also invests a lot in Green technology. With the trade war, it is certainly possible that the Chinese economy crashes, which would mean lower energy consumption growth and hence lower Chinese emissions.
There also is a strong chance that Trump launches a massive war in the Middle East. He loves Israel and bombing Arabs. If that includes attacks on oil and gas infrastructure, that could be great for the climate(although horrible on so many other levels).
The US peaked at 23.1 tonnes of carbon emissions per capita in 1973. It came off that peak but stayed pretty flat through 2007 or so, at 20.2 tonnes per person. Since then, it's steadily come down, and is now at about 14.9.
There's still a long way to go, but the 35% reduction that the US has already accomplished shows that it's possible to keep making progress.