Reducing Carbon emissions

I noticed that during the Great REcession so much less Gas and Diesel was used in the U.S. that we likely lowered (during that time) our carbon emissions (at least in regard to gasoline and diesel) here in the U.S. However, countering this, China and other nations (The BRIC) nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China all were growing by leaps and bounds and counteracted whatever reduction the U.S. and later Europe were able to manage.

However, then there is the depressing understanding by scientists that "No matter what anyone does the climate would continue to warm dramatically for another 300 to 500 years before it started tapering off".

This is one reason why everyone knows that no matter what they do now it won't help for about 300 to 500 years by which time (the way things are going) there may or may not be any people left on earth because of present exponential changes in climate here on earth. So, it is hard for people to get all excited about reducing carbon emissions when in the end everyone might die anyhow 500 to 1000 years from now and all species including humans (except for maybe cockroaches and the like) might go extinct.

However, acting as if there might be a way for humans to survive beyond 500 to 1000 years might be important because in the end no one can do anything (including lift their arms or walk) unless they first believe they can.