It's those near-term 10-15 year climate change 'tipping points' that have folks in a frazzle over shutting down the fossil fuel industry as soon as possible, with little regard to outcomes.
To me, the one positive outcome of the whole climate change thingy is, the movement is driving investment and research toward energy sources beyond oil, gas, and coal. But, I will never advocate for the draconian government intervention the movement is calling for to avert near term calamity that I believe will never happen (i.e., Pensacola Beach being under water in 10-15 years).
I am still a believer in the theory of Peak Oil. The oil glut of today is going to turn into shortages in the second half of the 21st Century if we continue to burn it as fuel. We will need cold-fusion reactors by then (prototypes currently under development), and will need the solar-power generation infrastructure and grid-level storage solutions in place by then.
Technology will eventually render the internal combustion engine as obsolete as the steam engine. The future of energy, as will become more evident after the 2050-2070 timeframe, lies in the electric grid, with most of the power coming from sources other than coal, and perhaps even natural gas.
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