> But global warming is a far bigger problem, which poses far larger threats to the world. We should do whatever it takes to cut back on CO2
It's not so simple: the ongoing environmental disaster is caused by many different sources of CO2 (e.g. concrete production), particulates, water usage and pollution, overfishing, animal farming, land pollution, ozone layer depletion.
First, almost all electrical energy ends up being released in the environment as heat.
Then, cheap energy only encourage faster production and consumption of goods, aka consumerism.
There's a very strong correlation between per-capita income, energy use and waste/pollution production throughout human societies and past centuries.
Very few environmental problems are solved by spending more energy.
There are many different environmental disasters, but many of them are already successfully being addressed. Acid rain is less, the hole in the ozone layer is shrinking, rivers are cleaner in many countries, the fish in my supermarkets are increasingly MSC or ASC. It shows that we can address these issues, and it works.
CO2 is the big one that we can't seem to get a grip on, because it's so strongly tied to energy production, and energy is tied to prosperity. Carbon emissions were reduced the most during severe economic downturns. But we don't want to save the environment by making everybody poor.
Recently, economic growth has become a bit more independent from energy use, thanks to improved insulation, LEDs and similar advances that help reduce energy use without reducing comfort. And that's important, because if you ask people to sacrifice comfort, prosperity and way of life to save the environment, they will resist.
I don't mean to be arguing for consumerism, but if you ignore this, you're going to make the struggle a lot harder. Success is easier if you make it easy for people to do the right thing.
It's not so simple: the ongoing environmental disaster is caused by many different sources of CO2 (e.g. concrete production), particulates, water usage and pollution, overfishing, animal farming, land pollution, ozone layer depletion.
First, almost all electrical energy ends up being released in the environment as heat.
Then, cheap energy only encourage faster production and consumption of goods, aka consumerism.
There's a very strong correlation between per-capita income, energy use and waste/pollution production throughout human societies and past centuries.
Very few environmental problems are solved by spending more energy.