this post was submitted on 26 Jun 2024
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No, the US is not "rapidly backsliding" — it seems to be moving in the right direction, if not yet quickly enough.
Every climate scientist crunching the numbers right now is freaking out behind semi-closed doors because they're worried that if the media starts running with the story that "thanks to a series of feedback loops the climate may already be fucked beyond hope of ever returning to normal, and at this point the best we can do is try to minimize the damage but even that will require completely upending the status quo," everyone will give up on climate/environmental action entirely, so the public instead is fed an alternating diet of toned-down warnings and positive news about microscopic improvements to maintain a general sense of hope.
If that's "moving in the right direction," we deserve our demise.
The point where things stop getting worse is the point where we've fully succeeded in getting off fossil fuels, ended deforestation, and phased out use of a few industrial gases and refrigerants. That's something like the end stage of action, not the messy middle where we are now. If we succeed, we'll get there in about 25 years.
Even if we fully stopped emitting net CO2 today, the climate will continue warming in 25 years. All the methane and CO2 we've already emitted will continue to warm the climate.