http://micheleincalifornia.blogspot.com/2016/08/for-just-few...
So, in my mind, your objections are irrelevant. There are plenty of Americans -- the so-called 99% that rich assholes would like to treat like sheeple and give Basic Income -- whose lives are in the toilet. I in no way need to convince them they are saving the world. I just need to get solutions into their hands that make their lives work better. The solutions that work are lightweight and low cost. If you can arrange your life so that you do not need a car, your quality of life can go up dramatically even if you are some "loser" failing at having a spiffy well-paid career. And then you are doing less harm to the environment even though saving the environment was not on your agenda.
I am a big believer in enlightened self interest. Our current system does not work for most people. We have a shrinking/shrunken middle class and most people's lives are just not working, even if they are doing everything the system tells them is the right thing to do.
The gig economy is growing and Millenials are insisting more on walkable neighborhoods and many of them live without a car. To the best of my ability, I try to encourage people who are failing to get a job to stop looking for a job and embrace the gig economy.
This is not a movement I need to start. It is already happening because no car and flexible work just works better for some people. But I can toss in my two cents worth and hopefully make the transition process a little easier for some folks, basically.
They are not massively cross disciplinary.
Oil wells were a specific problem solved by finding a solution possible with current tech.
Same for y2k. The fear got us on the other side, and the damage was far less than expected.
But.
We have been harping on climate change forever, there are vested interests who have found it useful to cloud civic thought with FUD, there is a political movement which has evolved (implying that even the base debate was fraught), to openly mock science and research.
Working on climate change is further hampered by it being vague and imprecise, dependent on our improvements in science and tech.
It also severely curtails the options of growing economies who see it as the west robbing them blind, living like kinds and then denying them the same quality of life.
Global warming requires people around the world to feel and believe they are in the same boat, which is worth saving, with other people they share a lot in common with.
Since that is a pipe dream no one is working on, broad political solutions are out, leaving weird targets and alliances to move forward. Targets which most people don't want to meet because it means engines cost more, products become expensive, and margins thin.
This is not a problem solved the same way.