Or is the medicine still better than the disease? I don't know anymore.
Emergency generators is not where the demand comes from.
The medicine is still likely better than the disease, but it really entirely depends on how much you choose to downweight the worth of the lives of future generations.
But yes, it is very likely that a solution will have to render formerly inhabited, far-flung areas as uninhabitable or at least much more expensive.
We need to wean off fossil fuels but governments need to subsidize and support alternatives which they are doing bare minimum today.
Things we like? Sorry? I like living. I like this planet. Things we like very seriously need to take a back seat to needs right now.
I've heard the same thing from a family member when I ask why they eat certain items while they are morbidly obese. Because they like them. Come on now, we're literally killing the planet with likes.
99% of all the products you take for granted are using fossile fuels.
Medicin, contact lenses, paint, textiles, electronics, windmills, solar cells, concrete, asphalt, heavy machinery, most industrial manufactoring, all types of lubricants, plastic, mining, food production and I could go on.
If you like living you are going to need most of the above. In fact if it wasn't for fossil fuel usage the likely hoood of you being alive let alone as rich as you are today would be very small.
Energy is the industry that powers all other industries. You make that more expensive you make everything more expensive which means more people go hungry, less people can afford medicine, food production becomes more expensive and more people will die. It's really that simple.
If you really believe we can do without all these things I would urge you to live without anything that has been made possible by fossil fuel industry for a month. Then you will realize just how live giving fossile fuel actually is.
Also, it's important to realize that just because something uses fossil energy now, it doesn't have to in the future.
On the other hand, I'm also 100% confident that if fossil fuels are banned tomorrow, my life will be much worse.
The choice seems pretty easy.
Use carbon capture to generate fuel from the air. Yes it's expensive compared to regular diesel, but for use-cases with low consumption like emergency generators that really shouldn't be a huge issue.
Using fossil fuels is saving more lives, in fact it's making it possible for billions of people to live today. That wouldn't be possible without fossil fuels. In fact most of us wouldn't be here.
There's pretty clear scientific consensus that climate change will result in more hurricanes, wildfires, heat waves, cold spells, floods, droughts and especially that there will be shortages of clean water and land suitable for agriculture. All of those things kill humans.
And everyone, everything would be better off.
Besides, the cost could be born by others similar to how we have duty-free fuel here for farm equipment and similar.
Also see my reply here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28127454