If one country can’t get its stuff together across religious, educational, socioeconomic and cultural barriers....how can a planet scale coordinated governmental effort by committee work?
Ask Al Gore how that worked. Or the Paris Treaty folks.
Waiting for consensus is garbage. We don't need to wait for everybody else to do the right thing before we do it.
You also don't need an international agreement to impose tariffs on any country that emits more than a given amount of CO2 per capita, and if more than a couple of countries impose those conditions (or even just one big one like the US) then it gives others domestic cover to do something meaningful because they can argue they have to do it to avoid the tariffs. Meanwhile they can "retaliate" by imposing the same conditions and soon enough everyone is hitting their targets to avoid all the tariffs, without anyone ever having to sign up for a unified agreement.
Really? Are the other countries on target? I heard the EU was not.
I want it to work. I'm just not sure it is, or if humans are even capable of coordinating on the scale required to address this problem outside of some geoengineering solution.
We used to only live and cooperate with tightly knot tribal groups. Now we often call ourselves Americans, Europeans, Arabs, Jews, Sikhs etc. We are capable of cooperating on a global scale but a certain group of self interested folks need to get out of the way
True but all you need is one of the bigger ones to spoil the party and that gives cover for everyone else. This problem cannot be solved by committee. I don’t expect anyone to agree with me, I just plan to move to higher ground.
How can a planet scale coordinated governmental effort by committee work?
The same way countless other endangered subsets of humanity (particularly those facing essentially total annihilation by, or permanent subservience to a foreign occupier) have: by recognizing the simple the simple fact that they'll either have to put their heads together, put aside their differences, and "figure out a way" to prevail against overwhelming odds --
or face the inevitable consequences of failing to do so.
I think the transition from apathy to resignation will be seamless - humans are not good at dealing with long term risk and threat. When it becomes an imminent threat, which will likely be soon, it will already be too late.
No, the only way anything changes is at the point of a spear. There has to be an imminent and tangible threat, now. Otherwise, it’s business as usual.
Ask Al Gore how that worked. Or the Paris Treaty folks.