Immediate fossil fuel phaseout could arrest climate change – study
This is a further reminder that critical changes are both necessary, and capable of having significant influence on the future stability and sustainability of the planet. This is a matter of choice – and it’s a choice that needs to be made now, not in a generation or two. 🙂
The study found that if all fossil fuel infrastructure – power plants, factories, vehicles, ships and planes – from now on are replaced by zero-carbon alternatives at the end of their useful lives, there is a 64% chance of staying under 1.5C.
Naturally, in order to increase that 64% to something higher, infrastructure must be replaced before it would be otherwise. In addition, other steps must be taken, starting immediately – smaller houses, more solar panels and wind turbines, removing gas vehicles from the roads as quickly as possible and other steps as well.
The work also assumes a rapid end to beef and dairy consumption, which is responsible for significant global emissions.
This means a significant, and immediate move towards a heavily plant-based diet for everybody. It means no longer viewing meat and dairy-based meals as the default for school cafeterias, restaurants, church potlucks and other places where people gather. It means making the switch even if you really like cheese and burgers and yogurt, or if meat is what you grew up eating. All of those may be true, but we are in a crisis, and drastic times call for drastic measures, and the time for change is now. 🙂
