French carbon intensity is 32 g CO2/kwh as of this hour.

[hunter]

6. Returning to a "pre-industrial lifestyle" isn't really an option.

Sure, a total collapse of civilization might lead to that, but it's not an ethical position. We have to figure out how to support every human who currently lives on this planet, and we should also figure out how to stabilize our population. Technically, we have all the tools we need to accomplish that. The problems are political. Certain religions and ideologies, especially the anti-intellectual traditions, are maladaptive in the modern world.

I figure a fully "renewable energy" powered utopia could at best support about 4 billion people, and that would come with a huge per capita environmental footprint. No, Mother Earth News country living is not the answer.

So, if you were a cruel and capricious god or all powerful Emperor of Earth, which people would you do away with? Maybe you would start with the people who have the largest environmental footprints? That would, of course, be the billionaires with their private jets, but it would also include most of the people who post here on DU.

If civilization collapses and a few billion people perish then that will be on us, not nature the science, not Nature as the wrathful goddess (for those who believe in such.)

One of my favorite books is Ursula K. Le Guin's Always Coming Home but, same as I feel about the industrial Star Trek future, I'd like to skip the part where this civilization collapses.