FYI: climate infographic

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Think we'll need to take the indirect approach - ie. solve the problems that feed into global warming. The problem is unfortunately too abstract and has too much diffusion of responsibility, tragedy of the commons, etc. in favor of it getting worse not to attack its precursors first.

Disagree quite strongly, both think that it's pretty much impossible to do anything about most of the problems and that it's entirely practical to stop global warming before it happens. Carbon emissions are falling and there is an international consensus that they need to fall further. As the cost of technologies continues to fall, it will only become easier and will even start happening by default. It will make more sense for developing countries to invest in solar power and storage than to invest in fossil fuel technologies. And even with the American federal government abdicating its responsibilities and letting the rest of the world down, America is still doing its part along with every other country.

Disagree quite strongly, both think that it's pretty much impossible to do anything about most of the problems and that it's entirely practical to stop global warming before it happens. Carbon emissions are falling and there is an international consensus that they need to fall further. As the cost of technologies continues to fall, it will only become easier and will even start happening by default. It will make more sense for developing countries to invest in solar power and storage than to invest in fossil fuel technologies. And even with the American federal government abdicating its responsibilities and letting the rest of the world down, America is still doing its part along with every other country.

Coal: our second biggest export... http://coal.makingthefuturepossible.info/exports/

https://xkcd.com/1732/

Based on what I have heard recently, the entire Australian economic balance will essentially be destroyed if coal exports are banned altogether...
It is our second biggest export...
Economic suicide, and yet the skool cids who went on strike from skool recently, don't have a clue...

I don't embrace: "The operation was a success...
Unfortunately, the patient died..."

anyway.
@Pepe: you say, the operation (decreasing co2) might be succesful, but the patient (Australian economy) might end up dead.
I think the striking school kids don't think it's worth having a successful operation (the Australian economy), and the patient (human civilization) dead.
I mean... they are skipping school because they are assuming that education for a job in a world that won't exist by the time they graduate is not worth the effort.

When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years....
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/10/10/twain-father/

Australia’s coal export values have hit a new peak of $56.5 billion in 2017, according to the latest trade data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). https://www.australianmining.com.au/new ... d-in-2017/

Coal is Australia’s most valuable export in 2018
Coal will replace iron ore as Australia’s most valuable export this financial year as supply concerns lead to a steep price rise for the core commodity. https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-eco ... 50nd4.html

Fact check: Does Australia export cleaner coal than many other countries?
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told journalists he did not agree with a moratorium on Australian coal.
He said that if Australia stopped exporting coal, the countries that buy it would import it from somewhere else.
"So if Australia were to stop all of its coal exports, it would not affect - it would not reduce global emissions one iota," Mr Turnbull said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-27/ ... er/6952190

The claim: Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says Australia exports "by and large" cleaner coal than other countries.
The verdict: Experts say Australian export coal is of a higher quality on average compared with other countries, meaning less is needed to generate the same amount of energy. This leads to lower carbon emissions by weight compared with coal from other countries. Mr Turnbull's claim checks out.
"In fact, arguably it would increase them because our coal, by and large, is cleaner than the coal in many other countries."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-27/ ... er/6952190


Mr Turnbull claimed that Australia's coal, "by and large", was cleaner than the coal in many other countries.
His claim was made in the context of what would happen to global emissions if Australia stopped exporting coal.

Experts told Fact Check that Australia's coal is on average high quality as a result of its low moisture and ash content, and high carbon content, compared with other countries, particularly Indonesia, the largest coal exporter in the world.
As a consequence, less Australian coal is needed to generate the same amount of energy, leading to lower carbon emissions by weight compared with coal from other countries.

Mr Turnbull's claim checks out. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-27/ ... er/6952190