On the UK's Goal of Reducing it's Greenhouse Gas Emission by 80% by the Year, 2050 - Discussion Points

a) There are only four possible ways that a country/planet can go about decarbonizing; reducing the population (which ain't gonna happen), constricting GDP (which ain't gonna happen, at least not wittingly), improvements in efficiency (which are helpful but which all too often simply lead to further consumption), and lowering one's carbon intensity in relation to energy (which we have been doing for well over a Century now, just not fast enough). That's it, folks, that's the entire menu - ROTSA RUCK.............b) So, how do we go about reducing the world's carbon intensity? Again, the menu of viable options (i.e., those which can measure up in cost and scale) is tiny; nuclear (which emits no carbon emissions but which the environmentalists don't like because of the waste), hydro (which also emits no carbon emissions but which the environmentalists don't like because you have to build dams), and natural gas (which emits a lot less in terms of carbon emissions than coal but which the environmentalists don't like because of fracking). That's it; no magic bullets and the options that are frequently put forth (wind, solar, biofuels) are woefully inadequate (high cost, high resource intensity, low power and energy density, etc.). Time for these stupid politicians to get educated, folks.............c) What people have to realize is that, even if we were to stop using fossil fuels COMPLETELY, that act would in no way guarantee that CO2 levels would remain the same. CO2 levels have varied markedly throughout the earth's six billion year history and there have even been periods where the levels have been 10 to 20 times higher (even during glaciations)....I really think that we need to get over ourselves here.