> The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is now.
Said to be a Chinese proverb, but I haven't extensively verified.
The only viable solution right now to combat global warming is to immediately stop emitting greenhouse gases, even if there is a lag effect.
Unlikely, cf. https://quoteinvestigator.com/2021/12/29/plant-tree/
There's an old Chinese proverb for this, it goes "most of the time it's not a Chinese proverb". Ah, words of sages, the wisdom of ages.
It turns out that since for most of Western history China was synonymous with the "mysterious far east", it become common practice to just tack on "Chinese" to the origin of any saying to let it exotic credibility.
Unsurprisingly "May you live in interesting times" is not a Chinese curse.
People like to fixate on a simple correction that they can work toward (more often just talk about), but the situation is not simple. And I don't think people should be making statements that suggest there is a simple solution at this point.