Lately I've been on a kick of watching lots of Youtube videos on this topic, so I'm feeling pretty despairing at the moment too. For a number of years now, just about everything I've read or watched on this topic seems to point in the same direction--that not only is global warming occurring, it's happening at a faster rate than all but the most pessimistic scientists predicted. Never mind exceeding the 400 ppm threshold for carbon, which means a minimum 2-degree Centigrade temperature rise by the end of this century is (pardon the expression) baked in. The melting of polar ice is apparently progressing at a rate faster than even the most pessimistic forecasts of a few years ago predicted. Feedback loops are increasing--as arctic ice melts, that huge body of water will absorb more heat, and melting permafrost will increasingly pour methane, a nearly 20x more potent greenhouse gas than carbon, into the atmosphere. That's in addition to the warming that comes from carbon.

In response to all this, the techno-optimists have little to offer other than vague talk about "increasing fuel efficiency," "alternative sources of power," "carbon capture" or iffy and possibly dangerous schemes like seeding the atmosphere with various chemicals, or launching giant mirrors into space to reflect the sun's rays back at it.

I don't think humanity is doomed. Humans are nothing if not adaptable. But I do think the next century is potentially shaping up to be a very, very ugly period in human history, so if this guy is worried about his kid's future, he's got good reason to be.