Thanks for this overview and recalling the near past. It is imperative to act but the industry that controls the energy markets has slower reactions than may be needed. The ability to change over time from one source of energy to another is deep issue and consumers as well as industry can’t face the issue low energy consumption. Our world is not yet designed for it and progress can be nothing but slow. I think we are headed in the right direction, but is that enough? Can it go faster?
The bigger problem may not be the air but the ground. Water cannot be replaced so easily and the water tables take much longer to replace, especially in desert areas like Arizona. They’ve sucked up too much ground water for the sake of feeding foreign cows (growing alfalfa and shipping it to Saudi Arabia by a Republican governor), and they’ve used an estimated 50% of the Colorado River to also feed cows for domestic consumption. The water intensity to grow these crops—almonds, pecans, cows—is much higher than we realized and corporate farming in a desert was never a good idea, let alone building cities. and we know what happens when people compete for water: golf courses win. He who can afford the most gets it.
The inherent ability to deceive ourselves is the main issue. Mother Nature will provide and replenish. But never has such resource consumption happened on such a massive scale. We are the meteor that destroyed the dinosaurs and we are the dinosaurs.