Climate

I am 81 years old and have no children. So the fact the we will soon be seeing temperatures from between 3° and 8° celcius above pre-industrial averages, doesn't really affect me. But, if I were younger, or had children, then I would be rioting in the streets.

The developed world seems to have given up on doing anything to either cut back on CO₂ emissions or put in place plans to mitigate the effect.

Here is a chart showing temperature rise since the early 19th century. Data was collected from the following organisations:
HadCRUT - Hadley Centre/Climatic Research Unit Temperature.
NOAA - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (U.S.)
GISS - Nasa
JRA - Japanese reanalysis
Berkeley Earth - Climate analysis organisation
ERA - European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts

They all show the same thing, a classic exponential growth curve. We have seen the same growth curve in population, cancer, human childhood, GDP, and many other natural and man-made phenomena. It will top out, but whether that will be at a temperature that supports human life is debatable.

We also know exactly how to reverse the temperature rise. Cut back drastically on CO₂ emissions. But we won't. The great god Economic growth rules all, and nothing can be done that might, even for a moment, hold growth back. There is no evidence that reducing CO₂ emissions would hold back growth, except, of course, for the Oil, Gas, and Coal companies. And that is why governments would rather see us suffer.

Come the tipping points, in the near future, and everyone will say "Why didn't someone do something."