[Mathgod]

Originally Posted by Table 5

We can't even phase out coal and burning wood...yet somehow we're going to magically replace oil and natural gas too? All within our lifetime? That's quite the optimistic world you're living in.

We will find a way to do it or we will face suffering, death, and calamity on a scale unprecedented in the history of humanity.

Everyone assumes new forms of energy lead to the death of the old, but that's not the case. It all just gets added to the growing pile. The % mix may change, but the old energy source tends to stick around. We use more coal today than we ever did. We still burn wood...err I mean "biomass"... like cavemen for effin sake. Why? Because as our global standard of living increases, so does the thirst for energy to maintain and increase that standard, and there's no single source of energy that can feed the ever-hungrier monster.

Yup, it's quite a problem. Good thing we've spent the last 50 years listening to oil company propaganda instead of scientists. And judging by the pushback against carbon taxes even to this day, it appears we still aren't listening to scientists...

If you look at the global population demographics, that demand will only go up as people in Asia and the Global South look to better their life. As people move up the quality-of-life ladder, so does their demand for energy. They want stable energy grids, they want infrastructure, they want industry, they want better homes, they want air conditioners, they want phones and computers, they want cars, they want to travel, they want to eat food from other places, etc. They want all the energy-consuming comforts you have and take for granted, and will not be denied for your cause of emission reduction.

Unless you're hoping for a drastic reduction in standard of living in the developed world, or to deny all the people in the developing world from rising above poverty (which would be a real #### thing to hope for), global energy usage is going to trend up. And that demand is also why fossil fuels aren't going anywhere.

Oh, I see. The iceberg has already hit the Titanic, and while everyone on the ship is clamouring to sit in first class, I'm the dick for pointing out that there are perhaps more pressing concerns?

The future won't be fossil fuels OR renewables. It's going to be fossil fuels AND renewables.

Wrong. It'll be a future of renewables without fossil fuels, or there will be no future at all.

Originally Posted by DoubleK

This bears repeating. Sustainability is pointless if only the rich can afford it.

??? What does this even mean? Sustainability isn't some consumer product that's bought, it's an attribute of a sane socioeconomic system.

Your statement is kind of ironic too, in the sense that if we allow a worst case climate scenario to happen, it will likely be an ultra-wealthy tiny sliver of the world's population that will be able to avoid the worst effects and survive, while the rest of us perish.