Some level of personal guilt for continuing to exist in a system where fossil fuels are burned on their behalf and we often need to burn them ourselves to live a nornal life because the alternatives may barely exist. For example see DEI bike lanes in the states and the banning of them in ontario in canada thus promoting more car use and discourage/making it more dangerous to bike.

I just don’t understand what they stand to lose by admitting that humans have demonstrably increased the global temperatures.

Cars.

yeah, we didn't have fire season out here when i was growing up. we used to call it summer.

I think it's sunk cost. It's too late for them to admit that they were wrong because now it's too late to do anything. And admitting they were wrong this whole time would mean that there was time to do something and they squandered it to the detriment of not only their own descendants, but for literally every human on the planet.

Their ego will not allow it.

On top of that, there are systemic problems that allow the situation to escalate out of control. Why should I do this expensive thing while everyone else gets the cheap option? This sort of thinking applies to governments, companies and individuals alike. Nobody wants to contribute to fixing the problem, because it’s expensive.

And then they would invest in better healthcare plans, and better security

I mean, maybe, except we are way way way past the point where we can fix this. Very large numbers of humans, will die, likely in the next 20 years. From famine and fighting caused by mass migration from now unlivable areas.

Given our response level when we had time and resources and somewhat willing to work governments, vs now, its going to be a very large percentage, probably 100% within 40-50 years as it spirals and gets worse more and more rapidly.

People got all pissy during COVID when things became hard to get from shipping delays and they couldn't go out to eat. Wait until things become hard to get because those things can no longer be manufactured and they can't go out to eat because there is no food.

But hey, enough Doomer talk. Fidja see, Elon Musk isna Trillionaire! Everything is booming! MONEY!