"The same political will that has moved the needle beyond complacency now faces new conundrums that only emerge as newfound climate awareness clashes with the carbon infrastructure upon which growth and prosperity still largely rests.

"Examples abound. To compensate for the lost generation capacity from hydroelectric dams due to the drought in Sichuan, China looks to plug the gap in demand with new coal-fired power that will only worsen the warming that causes drought in the first place. As gas supplies from Russia to Germany dwindle, one of the otherwise greenest polities in the world is compelled to bring mothballed coal-fired plants back online to warm winter homes and turn the faltering turbines of industry.

"Resolving these quandaries in favor of sustainability is where the rubber meets the road, where political will meets political skill. Balancing the interests of present constituencies against future repercussions is the key challenge on the immediate horizon, when time has become an ethical dimension as the window to avoid an irreparable cascade of climate consequences is closing."

"...Despite the present obstacles and so far unresolved conundrums, the globally simultaneous experience we are living through today would seem to inexorably precipitate synchronous cooperation around convergent imperatives shared by all." - Nathan Gardels

Article: A Premonition Of The Planetary Future