If everyone took action it would be pretty quick and drastic. But the problem is they aren’t meaning actually everyone. They are talking about the peasants, cause in actuality everyone taking action would include the few who contribute the grand majority to the problem, the few who uphold policies that cause people to damage the world, the few holding profits over meaningful and long-lived global health. But NYT is talking not about them, not about the real problem, they are talking about individuals forced to contribute to global warming by way of interaction in a system run by the real problem people and that is why it cannot be true and meaningful improvement.