RE: In Non-Defence of a Semi-Unrepentant Oil Junky
Petroleum is not only used for energy/fuel purposes, but necessary for the modern economy to function. Petroleum is refined into products ranging from fertilizers, plastics, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. Only the myopic and ignorant would think that by putting up a few solar panels on their roofs, they've performed the necessary "sacrifice" in limiting the use of oil.
If the leaders of the first world countries are truly serious about climate change and are willing to act upon the supposed CO2 induced problems, then they better expend enough resources to expand their security apparatus, a la China and Russia, to quell the inevitable civil unrest and disorder resulting from massive wealth contraction due to discontinuing oil and oil-product use. As such, the Paris Climate Accord is nothing more than a self-congratulatory PR photo-op for narcissistic politicians deluding themselves into "saving the world" by the most minuscule diminution of petrol-based product use in their already gluttonous society.
That's basically my point, as well. However, I'd say that most people (maybe, being generous, through no fault of their own) fall into the "myopic and ignorant" category. If you look at the general discourse surrounding the reduction of fossil fuels, it focuses on consumer-level transportation and other consumer-based strategies that, at best, only marginally reduce one's impact. These problems are structural in nature, but many people perform certain rituals and engage in practices that signal a desire to fix things, yet nothing substantive is ever achieved. Much of modern politics is based on good will and aesthetic markers of which tribe one belongs to: these things don't create change and certainly not fast enough to do anything meaningful for the problem at hand.