I think you're final paragraph is contradictory. I think the environmental impact of our limitless energy consumption so far is clear. Reducing consumption is the only way to reduce further impact.
Modern society uses a lot of unnecessary energy in part because someone gets to make a lot of money now and leave this life before the consequences of unfettered destruction come due.
You are using vastly more energy than a hunter gatherer did, or someone in the Middle Ages. Where do we draw the line? Isn’t it unfair that you use a computer, air conditioning, TV, etc. when you don’t really need it? And what happens when every other human uses as much power as Western citizens do? It’s quite hypocritical to say it’s ok for you, but not for the rest of the world.
I say, we should have as much power as possible, generated as cleanly as possible, and the lowest possible cost. This is how we move society forwards.
US CO2 emissions have been falling for more than a decade and are at 1990s levels, and will continue to fall.
Energy is the lifeblood of civilization. Reducing the cost of energy, and widespread availability of energy is responsible for saving perhaps a billion lives and bettering nearly 10 billion lives over the last century (that is to say, basically all of them).
The idea of putting a stranglehold on worldwide energy production or access is abhorrent when you look at the on-the-ground effects that such a policy would actually have on people’s lives. As you rightly point out, the most marginalized people worst of all.
Even if we could somehow stop industry from emitting even a gram of CO2 on 1/1/2021 going forward, the climate models still predict their 10 meter sea level rise just given the current greenhouse levels persisting.
The only answer is technological, and in my opinion it’s frankly not even going to be that complicated of a problem given the resources and technology available circa 2050 to deal with it.
Franky, solar shades seemed a lot harder of an ask pre-Starship. Looking forward to seeing SN8 reach for 60km in the near future.
Modern society uses a lot of unnecessary energy in part because someone gets to make a lot of money now and leave this life before the consequences of unfettered destruction come due.