Sorry if this is explaining something you’ve already heard, but net zero is a distinct concept that a significant percentage of humans agree with. Describing it as huddling around campfires might be counterproductive towards wider public support.
You’ve misunderstood. Huddling around campfires is wasteful and we shouldn’t do it. We need solar panels, trains, and vegan food instead.
Emissions can refer to all greenhouse gases or only to carbon dioxide (CO2).[1] Reaching net zero is necessary to stop further global warming.[2] It requires deep cuts in emissions, for example by shifting from fossil fuels to sustainable energy, improving energy efficiency and halting deforestation. A small remaining fraction of emissions can then be offset using carbon dioxide removal.
For example, some standards for carbon neutral certification allow a lot of carbon offsetting. But net zero standards require reducing emissions to more than 90% and then only offsetting the remaining 10% or less to fall in line with 1.5 °C targets.
We can cut 25% of emissions with renewable electricity to replace fossil fuels. 28% by banning gas cars and airplanes except in emergencies. Maybe around 5-8% by banning animal agriculture. A few percentage points out of residential and industrial by banning onsite emission sources such as gas stoves. And maybe after all that effort we can get emissions down to 10% of what they presently are, but we might still need to radically rethink our industrial processes.
I guess I am. I didn’t bother drawing a distinction between the two because the difference is one atom.
Sorry if this is explaining something you’ve already heard, but net zero is a distinct concept that a significant percentage of humans agree with. Describing it as huddling around campfires might be counterproductive towards wider public support.
You’ve misunderstood. Huddling around campfires is wasteful and we shouldn’t do it. We need solar panels, trains, and vegan food instead.
We can cut 25% of emissions with renewable electricity to replace fossil fuels. 28% by banning gas cars and airplanes except in emergencies. Maybe around 5-8% by banning animal agriculture. A few percentage points out of residential and industrial by banning onsite emission sources such as gas stoves. And maybe after all that effort we can get emissions down to 10% of what they presently are, but we might still need to radically rethink our industrial processes.