Knowledge Areas :
2020 Presidential Election, Black Lives Matter, Me Too Movement, Racism in Sports, Developmental Editing, Stylistic Editing, Copy Editing, Proofreading, Cooking, Healthy Eating, Restaurants, Snack Items, Chinese Food, American Food, Pizza, PC/Mac Games, Console Games (Xbox, PS, Nintendo, etc.), Role Playing/Fantasy, Stock Market, Literary Fiction, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Recording/Studios, Hip Hop, Retirement Planning, Growing your Savings, Personal Credit/Credit Report, Logic, Friends, Dating, Family, Twitter, Facebook, Google, Twitch.tv, Hashtag Usage, Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Poetry, Copywriting, Fiction
Reputation Score: 180
Answers ( 1 )
There is plenty which can be done. The real question is what will be done, rather than what can be done. The solution space is in good shape from a technical perspective and the main barrier to progress on solutions is politics (as always). In particular, the fossil fuel industry really badly doesn't want any kind climate action and they have deep pockets and have been lobbying hard for their agenda.
Solutions are either about reducing greenhouse gas emissions or about removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and sequestering it in the ground. The solutions offered by Project Drawdown (https://drawdown.org/) cover the solution space broadly and only depend on existing technologies and knowledge rather than pie in the sky pipedream maybe some day solutions. There is no one size fits all solution. Some solutions are profit making and others are cost saving, so these are easier to get implemented because a case can be made even without the environmental justification.
Even if significant progress is made on emission reduction, global warming will continue for a few decades before the temperature anomaly plateaus in the +1.5C..2C range. This is low enough to avoid many, but not all of the environmental impacts. The impact on coral and connected marine ecosystems occurs first and that is mostly already locked in due to past emissions.
Political commitment to solution is improving, but not rapidly enough. The projection based on the current emission policy is that temperature anomaly will +2.9C by 2100. https://climateactiontracker.org/