| I wouldn't worry too much about human-activity-induced climate change, we're all about to run out of the fuel that's promoting it. Of course the double whammy of peak-energy followed by climate change might make survival of our species a debatable point.
It now appears that the economic model of boundless expansion is going to die a timely death, along with the untimely deaths of a large portion of the planet's human population.
There is no chance we'll be able to refit the world's economy with anything that looks like a reliable alternate energy before the wheels fall off. Peak-oil is likely here now and there'll be no alternative but to scale down our ambitions, this will mean economic collapse. Of course any economic collapse will spread the decline out a bit further with the demand-destruction that follows, but not by much.
Heavily industrialised countries will suffer the most, and more quickly than others, and this will trump any sort of climate accord the selfish wealthier nations might fear (the USA for instance).
North America might be suffering a stint of above-average cold weather now, but in the future might welcome such a warm winter when there's no gas or oil for home heating, or the absence of food due to the lack of transport from the farm to the dinner plate. |