re: #16 silverdolphin

We are still in trouble, but we have made some progress. Our great grandchildren will be the final judges.

Maybe… the the effects of what we have done and will do… will continue forever.

And while the US has reduced per capita CO2, we also have outsourced a great deal of manufacturing, mostly to Asia.

Several of the scenarios for the future are not realistic. Resource limitations means the top scenario just can’t happen, and also the next one down too is not going to happen because resource competition will drive up the price of oil and natural gas beyond what many in the world can afford.

The lowest two scenarios are also off the table, given the current investments and plans for fossil resource extraction.

So I expect we’ll remain on a plateau of emissions for the next decade or two, globally, and then slowly decrease over the following 100 years or so.

What this means: we are going to change the climate, and the entire ecosystem, to such an extent that future generations will be living not in the climate in which the genus Homo evolved.

The best we can do is try to make it so future generations have a fighting chance.

We can do that by slowing our emissions and being wiser about land use.

This can buy a century or two for adaptation.