There had been hope that the final agreement would include language that specifically addressed the key cause of emissions and climate change – the burning of fossil fuels.
Climate-vulnerable nations’ hopes that the world was on the cusp of an agreement to rapidly phase out the use of fossil fuels at the COP28 climate summit were shattered when a new draft text emerged from negotiations drastically watering down such language.
Australian Climate and Energy Minister Chris Bowen, speaking on behalf of the Umbrella Group of nations, which includes the United States, the United Kingdom, Norway and Canada, told the COP that the group could not sign the agreement as it stood.
I suspect no significant change will occur until wealthy people from wealthy countries are forced to abandon homes in coastal areas, or some similar worldwide phenomenon occurs.
What good has society provided to the natural world? We have an extinction event named after us. We deserve our fates, and the earth and the rest of the galaxy will be better off without the plague that is humans.
Yes, very much so. And essentially the whole of the US eastern seaboard and a lot of the western seaboard (where it's beach and not cliffs). However, many are second and third homes that people can afford to lose, so I don't know if sea rise provides the proper amount of impetus for change. But I do know some people who have or who are planning to sell waterfront properties in anticipation of possibly being stuck with worthless or non-existent property, so maybe. But they are mostly people for whom the loss while not poverty-inducing, would be a major financial hit.