Watched the famous 15 minutes of Carl Sagan’s 1985 testimony to US Congress on the Greenhouse Gases effect of Global Warming / Climate Change.
Everything is there from ~40 years ago – well calibrated evidence by concensus – and we see Al Gore, of later “Inconvenient Truth” fame, listening intently. I would maintain that the developed west has responded massively in terms of our own consumptions and emissions (ref Lomborg?) and that further unilateral reduction has diminishing returns and significant downsides. As Sagan points out the real problem is fragility and sustaining efforts over long time-scales and in partnership with the other global players.
This has been the focus for me on governance (cybernetics) and the scalability & stability of “conservative” democratic institutions, like the UN. Every divisive, anti-establishment or economically-competitive move, even well-meaning ones, increases the downside risks.
[Hat tip to someone on my LinkedIn timeline, which moved-on too fast for me to capture.]
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