For example, Pinker (2018) refers to declining intensity of CO2 emissions per dollar of GDP and the post-1990 expansion of protected areas as major examples of past steps showing the effective solutions. But while those relative European, US, and global emissions of CO2 peaked two to three generations ago, their absolute level has reached record heights; the global total, contrary to Pinker’s claim, keeps rising—and the atmosphere responds (absorbs slightly more of the outgoing radiation) to the rise in absolute concentrations of CO2, not to relative shifts in national contributions. And while
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our climate optimism based on per capita tracking might be misplaced- at aggregate we're getting worse and we think the per capita numbers might be wrong
