Net Zero carbon emissions (or any other pollutant) shouldn’t be the goal. It should be the minimum fucking standard.

Exactly. The part about recycling that you wrote makes me realize that fossil fuel industry has been more than an addiction for most of the masses with politicians (Think about Gerhard Schroeder in Germany with his Russian oil connections) and companies making the decisions in favor of destroying the planet. And those fossil fuel companies knew about the effects for decades. Just like tobacco companies were allowed to go for profits. Making profits and caring about shareholders has been worshiped for way too long.