M0nica, I usually find myself agreeing with you on most subjects, at least broadly, if not in the details but I've read the responses on this thread very differently.
I don't read the responses quite as split in two camps as you have done. I do, however, feel that many on here are portraying those of us who are impatient with governments and "want something major done" as luddites (in the ordinary meaning of the word).
I want solutions. I want more properly funded research which is then translated into action. I am not a scientist or engineer but like you have family members involved in research who are. We need to make companies build the "best for the future" products, buildings, transportation systems and so on that we can. They will (on the whole) not do it without compulsion. I don't think we should be dragging out feet on this. Yes, I am yes, very impatient. But lots of technology which is useful already exists - only last week I was reading about storing energy by a crane/block gravity system (similar to the Victorian/Babylonian pumping ideas) which is easy to implement for example.
So I would ask, why are we not putting solar panels on every new building? Because there is no legislation for it. We should just get on and legislate because it can't be done through individual choice.
I think it is our frustration that you are really seeing, not our belief in inevitable Armageddon.
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