The Each Small Reduction Matters Movement

In direct contrast to the All IN revolutionaries we have the Climate Wonks interviewed by Ezra Klein in todays Times. They are classic examples of the "four-point-four-degrees-of-warming-is-better-than-four-point-five-degrees-of-warming movement. According to the wonk: "Climate has been framed as a physical, scientific problem where there are hard limits: If we do not fully solve the problem and get to net zero emissions by some deadline, or if in the next 10 years we don’t keep to 1.5 degrees, the planet is going to fall off a cliff." Roll of the eyes at these crazy "maximalists". Don't they know we can overshoot these...targets..and still be fine? When new technologies save us? Perfect example of what Mark Fisher termed capitalist realism. It is the wonks only horizon, they can imagine nothing else. Therefor it must work. We just need another Biden and IRA and we can achieve "net-zero". The wonk goes on to say: "every degree of warming, every fraction of a degree of warming, that we don’t cause matters." She claims to be rigorously following the science but she is obfuscating. The science gives us odds on avoiding outcomes (extremely lousy odds!) based on various "pathways". All those pathways include both stopping emissions quickly AND pulling immense quantities of CO2 out of the atmosphere. Yeah, right. To his credit, Klein remembers the millions already dying or displaced and says: "the scientific community, however you want to define that, has looked at all of its models, looked at all of its research and described zones that are of really frightening levels of climate risk." The wonk then claims that is not what the science says and defends the every degree matters movement. He seems fine with four point five. Then they talk about the uncertainty around tipping points and feedback loops and finally settle on "the Market will fix it." If we get environmentalists and their pesky regulations out of the way. This is their real agenda. Grow. Build. Develop. Accumulate. Increase all the processes that got us into this fix. According to Klein and the liberalism, abundance will save us. As Doomberg says about all this "climate nonsense", we will burn all those hydrocarbons, one way or the other.