We collectively deserve this. The warnings came, but it was framed as "future generations will face these problems", and we collectively kicked the can down the road.

I say "collectively" because many of us don't deserve this and have wanted desperately to address it head on to try and mitigate the damage. But the scope of this problem makes individual contributions effectively meaningless.

It's not clear how bad it has to get before meaningful action takes place. But it will undoubtedly be too little, too late.

I think part of the path to try and address this is to have stories that paint a clear and simple picture of what that would look like and how it would be done. Even then, the issue has been heavily politicized to make it an us versus them problem rather than an "all of us" problem.

small correction: only individual contributions are meaningful. If I consume less and you consume less and many other individuals consume less there simply won't be as much demand for fossil fuels.

The only way I can understand your premise of helplessness is that it provides a convenient excuse for you not to do anything to help. Do you think companies will keep burning fuel at the exact same rate if a billion individuals dont incentivize them to?