[Mathgod]

The deification of fossil fuels in this thread is extremely cringe.

Humans needed an energy source to do things they wanted to do. They used fossil fuels because there was nothing better at the time. Simple as that. Once something better comes along, it should be used instead of the worse thing that was used previously.

Indeed, there should be a process of phasing out fossil fuels, and it needs to happen relatively quickly.

Why aren't we further along in this process than we currently are, stems from decades of climate change denial funded by big oil. There are all kinds of green technologies being worked on atm; it's not hard to find out what these are. It would be foolish to suggest that we wouldn't have been at the stage of innovation we are at now, much sooner, if not for the obnoxious lies spread by big oil.

As for the "going back to 3rd world conditions" argument, that is an absurd false dichotomy. Asking people to curb their greed is not the same as "knocking them back to the stone age".