Another woman chiming in. And I'm part of that over 60, semi-retired, demographic that seems to represent too many of the denier crowd.
I'm also pretty well retired from activism, though our new "conservative" government is stirring the old get-out-the-feet-on-the-streets instincts. I was part of the famed 2nd wave feminist movement as well as a lifelong union activist. How do I feel about things now? For feminism and unionism, I feel as though all those fights we thought we'd won have to be fought all over again.
For climate, I confess to feeling a bit guilty. I was on top of it right from the start - but I failed to see how this issue would turn out to be different from the others I saw as similar. Without being in a STEM field, I was a regular reader of New Scientist and similar science magazines from the late 70s onward. Climate and carbon neutral technologies were discussed regularly.
As time went on, I presumed that global warming was just another technical glitch that needed fixing. Smog, acid rain, lead in petrol, asbestos in buildings, the Montreal Protocol on CFCs, river pollution in advanced industrial economies all seemed to get done eventually. It always took time, stick in the muds and near-criminal industries always made things difficult but patient diplomacy, persistent legislators and then regulators prosecuting offenders seemed to do the job protesters had been asking for 10 or more years earlier. And I thought the computer industry dealing with and getting ahead of any/all consequences of the Y2K problems they'd created for themselves was a model for everyone to follow.
When we needed to replace our hot water service in the late 80s, we didn't even consider any option except solar. I truly, honestly believed that solar would be the only legal option in Australia, for households anyway, the early 2000s. It was the only thing that made any sense. It was inevitable.
What I failed to notice were the parallels with the industries that successfully resisted legislative and diplomatic action. Tobacco and pesticides producers being the obvious candidates here. Also, like many left-wing-ish people, I too readily accepted the ideas that industry talks about as self-described "entrepreneurs" focused on innovation and always looking for opportunities for making profit. As far as I could tell, and still do, there are billions of dollar$$$ there for the taking in new industries of renewable energy and retrofitting buildings as well as transport infrastructure. People focused on profits made by sweet deals with governments - or by seeking tax benefits or favourable tendering conditions all the way through to bribery and corruption - can just as easily do that when claiming the moral high ground of "being green" and "making a better world for our grandchildren" and all the other marketing mantras a cynical money maker is willing to attach to their name.
I've now realised that we're not really dealing with a -capitalist- problem at all. At least, not any more. It's not about profits. It's become a pseudo feudal problem. The owners of all those assets of identified fossil resources and of mining/prospecting licences for other possible resources simply cannot afford them being converted to stranded assets in the way that asbestos mines, leases, factories became valueless, stranded investments. It. wouldn't. have. done. so. if fossil companies had turned themselves into power resource companies 20 or so years ago. But their past actions leading to their current share value being based on mines, drilling, and associated power generation have now turned this into a scenario much more like peasants with pitchforks attacking the forests, lands and assets of the aristocracy rather than a fairly straightforward business plan for a steady, well-managed conversion to new methods and different processes to keep up with the modern kids.
I've done my small part in the online climate wars - I think being called a "Lysenkoist whore" was a pretty unforgettable highlight several years ago - but I do very little away from the key board. Though where I live it's sort of taken for granted that you'll have solar panels and a small to non-existent power bill unless you're renting or your roof is overshadowed or wrongly aligned or you're waiting until you can afford to replace your all-gas household's equipment with electric. You don't need to be interested in climate or committed to change. People are a bit proud of our conversion - in less than 10 years - to getting 30% of our power from wind and that 25% of us have panels on our roofs.