After a lot of discussions with my girlfriend about global warming we are still wondering what we can do to help fight the problem.

Some Background: There's evidence [0] that we will reach a point of no return regarding the climate change soon. Reaching this tipping point implies we create a self-reinforcing feedback loop where the whole 'Earth System' becomes destabilized which in turn leads to an increase in temperature of up to 50° in the next 100 years. See [3].

We think its clear there is reason to act now. There's some 'simple' points one can personally do to help:

* no flights * use public transport * use less energy * buy local groceries * cut back on dairy products

However, the largest impact on climate does not come from e.g. flights [1] but from the energy industry. One can only impact this indirectly.

Lots of the general public (including politics) seems to be oblivious to the problem at hand - ignoring the problem fully or at least partly. With Fridays for future [2] there is (at least in Germany) work done in this regard. At the same time it has just been decided there won't be a tempo limit on german autobahns and no CO2-emission tax.

It looks like the best might be to improve education on the topic - but it has to happen fast. If more people try to reduce their emissions it might force the 'bigger forces' to reduce their emissions, too.

This whole topic has a very negative ring to it - "Life is probably over in 50 years" is not something everyone wants to be confronted with. At the same time everyone has to acknowledge this and has to react accordingly.

So, really, I'd like to spark a discussion what one can do, what has been done and what you are doing. Also, what can give hope :) ?

tldr; We are fucked, what can we do?

[0] https://www.pnas.org/content/115/33/8252 [1] check emissions by sector (link too long) [2] https://fridaysforfuture.de/ [3] https://www.azimuthproject.org/azimuth/show/HomePage

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user:	overcode
created:	March 25, 2019
karma:	20