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Since the industrial revolution, fossil fuels were the only affordable energy sources that could meet the demand of industrialized countries. Until 5-10 years ago.
We're now in a situation where most people can still pretend that climate change isn't serious, and the fossil fuel lobby is stronger than ever. And yet over 90% of new electricity generation is already renewable, because it has simply become cheaper than coal and gas power in the last years.
As climate impacts worsen, the pressure to decarbonize will only get larger. The lobbies have been fighting tooth and nail against the energy transition for over 40 years, but they are rapidly loosing ground now in most countries.
It's right to be alarmed about climate change, there will be serious long-term impacts, but it seems irrational to be completely fatalistic. Just comparing the battery prices and solar panel prices and ev market with 10 years ago reveals a truly massive shift. And this is just the beginning of the energy transition.
Ok, what about when you also factor in resource depletion? Is it right to be fatalistic yet?
Because from where I'm standing, it doesn't look like there's much of a future for anything on this planet when Global freshwater demand will exceed supply 40% by 2030, experts warn and 90 per cent of Earth’s topsoil is at risk of depletion by 2050.
How will the billions of children born in this decade, survive in an increasingly polluted and hot future, with no fresh water or arable land?