What is indisputable is that the earth has warmed since 1830. What is disputable is whether it is us doing it either wholely or partly, whether it is fossil fuel led or not, the earth in the past has been warmer without us and had more CO2 in the atmosphere without us. The warming since 1830 has coincided with a procession of grand solar maximums increased sunspot activity or fucking big bangs on the sun to you and me. This increases solar radiation hitting the earth, solar radiation is not a constant, the sun’s output varies as indeed does the proximity of the earth to the sun. One of the reasons you don’t see much reference to the Earth’s temperature prior to 1830 is it was cooling despite the industrial revolution being under way. The Dalton Minimum from 1790 to 1820 saw global temperatures drop by 1 degree C. The Dalton Minimum was preceded by other minimums which coincided with drops in temperature, The Thames freezing over etc. Similarly solar maximums have coincided with warmer than usual global temperatures. Two medieval warm periods and the Roman warm period all of which are well documented. Why all of this matters is that we have just enter a solar minimum, it is / has been posited by people smarter than us who study these things that it will likely be a grand minimum lasting approximately 50 years. If this is so it should have a global cooling effect.
In terms of mass extinctions, the current one would be the 6th, we weren’t around for the previous extinctions, the 5th was 65 million years ago so we can’t even blame Fred Flintstone for that one.
For me personally, I’ve been recycling since 1974. It was somewhat harder to do back then. I actually had fights as a kid over other kids littering. I have only owned a car for two years of my adult life and only then because the company I worked for moved it’s offices from central London to the M4 corridor. I’ve been for the electrification of cars since moving into a loft apartment by the Blackwall Tunnel approach in the 90’s and seeing all the smut on my window panes and sills.
Pollution however does not necessarily equal climate change. Nor should it need to for us to avoid it. pollution certainly can and does kill wildlife and plant life. However this is not the main issue, all creatures tend to effect their
environment, sometimes positively sometimes negatively. The main issue with us is not so much what we are doing but how many of us are doing it. The global human population has quadrupled in 100 years. We have no natural predators, we have grown wealthier and less prown to illness and life expectancy has skyrocketed without a sufficiently corresponding drop in the birth rate.
No amount of wind or solar will solve this problem. Just in terms of current battery tech. It will take the annual global supply of cobalt for 4 years just to electrify all road vehicles in the UK. We need to stop having multiple children. The 1 kid policy the Chinese had a few years back needs to be instituted at a global level. I’m doing my bit, we have no kids and no plans for them, though our dogs kick out a fair amount methane.