It's too late to stop climate change, that's for sure, but we can still influence the degree of changes and the degree of impacts. We can prepare for a softer landing.
I'm not one of those to say Kyoto is not worth the paper it's printed on.
Once the impact of climate change becomes visible, politics will react quickly and forcefully. We saw that in Germany in 2002 during the floods on the Elbe River. They, in fact, determined the result of the (general) elections (later that same year).
I was an avid reader of futurists during the 1970s and '80s. They were so wrong - about everything.
It's always difficult to make predictions about the future.
Travel requires a great deal of energy - whether you go by car, by bus, by train or plane. We'll likely be using hydrogen as our main energy for transport.
Individual transportation has become synonymous for freedom and liberty, so it would be difficult to actually get rid of individualized transport, and in rural areas that would be impossible.
Our resources will diminish in the coming decades at a time when hunger for energy grows dramatically in China and other parts of Asia. Eventually, it will just be impossible to fly - normal flights will become as expensive as flying with the Concorde.
Nature does not forgive.
