We know where we are headed as a result of climate change. Large parts of California and the Southwest are going to become uninhabitable, due to extreme heat, fires, and water shortages. Agricultural yields will drop. Tropical events will get much worse, with increased losses of life and property. Illegal immigration will be exacerbated, as life in Central America becomes unbearable due to the heat. Rising seas will destroy the value of coastal property all over the country. It will no longer be possible for most people to afford property insurance in many states. Sounds pretty gloomy, doesn’t it?
All of this is inevitable, based on current conditions. There is no plausible technological fix for the carbon that is already in the system. How much worse than the current baseline can it get? A lot, due to the power of financial and ideological vested interests in fossil fuels all over the world, but particularly in America.
Ezra Klein sees a bright future, with a decarbonized economy and cheap, plentiful energy. The only way that is going to happen in America is if the private sector does it with minimal government direction, given the GOP’s ongoing addiction to fossil fuels, the economy of the 1950s, and culture wars. I don’t see how that is realistically possible.