Unless we as a society return to a simpler lifestyle of living, I see this as an unsolvable problem. For example, everyone in the US is trumpeting climate change and what not. And yet just walk into any starbucks and any supermarket and restaurant - none of that stuff is really recyclable. People generate tons of trash by using home delivery packages via amazon and non-recyclable food containers. Cars everywhere and completely unmaintained public transport. People really aren't willing to make a change but will go on about paris agreement and hate on trump. Their actions and life style say otherwise. What is then wrong with people in other countries wanting a similar life style?
What no one wants to admit is that our modern way of life is totally unsustainable on any level. Plastic straw bans and the like help us feel like where at least trying, but it's all just band-aids on a gaping wound. Then corporations try and shift the blame to the consumer at the same time making us us dependent on their products as soon as we're born.
If you divide world GDP by number of households in world, the household income turns out to be $59,000. In theory, we have achieved enough progress that everyone on the planet can live fairly rich lives. This is obviously not the case due to massive inequality. But the interesting side effect of this is the age of abundance for few of us. I just drank a bottle of blueberry yogurt and threw away plastic bottle. I get free soda from office and toss aluminium cane to the trace. It just occurs to me how insignificant the existence of that plastic bottle or aluminium cane is for me. It literally existed only for the purpose of providing little liquid and then to disappear forever in that growing pile of trash on the planet. It's amazing to think about how many things in our households we wouldn't consider valuable but would be treasured in some other part of the world. My theory is that this age of abundance is short and possibly in 100 years of time when trash engulfs this planet, mines dries up, raw materials becomes rare material - the future generation would look to us as some sort of envy and anger.
>Unless we as a society return to a simpler lifestyle of living, I see this as an unsolvable problem.
There's no reason to presume that it isn't possible to retain our current standard of living while also solving the problem through technological innovation - we've arguably had the solution for decades in the form of nuclear, and we're inching closer every day with developments in non-nuclear renewables and outside of the energy space with innovation in farming (outdoor and indoor/vertical, GMO) and material design.
Despite the doom and gloom, talk along the lines of 12 years before irreversible runaway into catastrophe is really a worst case estimate. Chances are we will have plenty of time to develop technology to slow climate change and adapt to its effects in the coming decades, particularly given that it is a rising concern among citizens the world over.
Honestly, given how much of our infrastructure is dependent on fossil fuels and environmentally unfriendly materials, it simply isn't practical to make the kind of radical transition you're advocating for - our entire food chain, for example relies on modern plastics and ICEs for delivery/storage. The waste you describe from e.g. Starbucks and packaging is probably a small percentage of the waste that our modern civilization is structured upon, even if you convinced everyone to drastically lower their standard of living overnight. Balancing risk with cost, this is a transition that cannot happen overnight anyway.
> it simply isn't practical to make the kind of radical transition you're advocating for
The above line is exactly my point. We think changing ourselves is impractical. But we want the rest of the world to abide by our views of "green" and "sustainable living".
