Appropriate decision making in a climate crisis?

50:50 chance of hitting 1.5 C sometime in the next 5 years (up from 0% 5 years previously) – and yes, we of course expect the odds to shorten even further.?

If we care about todays 3 yr olds, 10 yrs olds or even 20 yrs olds are we left with any choice but immediate action??

Do we need a dictatorial mindset? Do we need to be dictatorial in our actions? When we are out of time, when speed trumps perfection how many mistakes are we willing to tolerate and how many individual rights are we willing to ride roughshod over to give future generations a fighting (any) chance? ?

We may already be past some tipping points (but rest assured there are always more to be crossed, which we don't want to). It is clear we have no time left. We need to act as if we are in an emergency and rip up the rule book and make decisive decisions that we will revised on the fly. To that end we should immediately:·??????

• build more renewable energy (on and off
• shore) and interconnection with mainland Europe and target zero electricity
• from fossil fuels by 20XX (some time before 2040)
• Stop peat harvest and re-wet all peat lands
• Stop all infrastructure that locks in a higher carbon future
• Catalyse public transport use - make it free – more use, supports more provisions, which supports improved quality, which leads to more use (meaning less cars, less emissions and pollution, less infrastructure costs, less health costs, less reliance on fossil fuels, meaning more security).
• All future housing and buildings to be XX% energy self-sufficient – adjust BER rating bans to drive further ambition - decentralised energy sources increase energy security (a necessary adaptation policy)
• FULLY protect 30% of our marine and land areas – make them national parks or the equivalent
• Transition farming to more sustainable forms (both economically and environmentally) – silvo-pasture, zero till, soil carbon farming, managed for biodiversity etc. Limit growth, which also limits risk – we are clearly beyond sustainable boundaries given the reliance on artificial inputs (the costs of which are soaring). Run a scheme to financially support those farmers who wish to correct the trajectory they are on (a trajectory they were cajoled into).
• Manage upland farming for nature (trees, shrubs etc to get a foothold)
• End fossil fuel subsidies
• End subsidies that don’t support our sustainable ambitions
• Find a new ‘God’ metric other than GDP

?So no long planning processes and judicial reviews, no endless public consultations, no protracted political debates and points scoring. Accept trade-offs. Move beyond whataboutery. ?Give climate mitigation primacy in decision making – after all it is THE existential crisis.

?And yes, we need a just transition and to properly and fairly compensate those that are most impacted. We should invest as much as possible now into mitigation to reduce the cost of adaptation.?At present we can afford a just transition and to build resilience, but if we leave it too much longer, we will not be able to afford a just transition as most of our capacity will be spent on the growing cost of adaptation and the increase cost of survival. ?And as always the most vulnerable will initially be the most impacted. But the difference in this crisis compared to those in the past is that no corner of society will ultimately be spared (if we hit a 3-4 degree world).

I am sure in times of crisis (Wars, Pandemics) we have ceded extraordinary decision making powers (where the collective was given significant primacy over the individual).?Well we are in a crisis. So the QUESTION is, is this the right time to again cede such powers, and of course vote as carefully as we can to appoint decent people and limit the risk of absolute power corrupting absolutely.

If I am way off the mark it would be great to understand what we need to do differently, as nothing to-date has reversed the dial (for climate and biodiversity) like Montreal did for ozone depletion.