Once upon a time we had the Industrial Revolution with both it's good and horribly awful [child labor, dangerous working conditions, poverty wages, global warming] it did however drive/allow the creation of the world [urbanization for example] we have today.
We had a couple of global wars that pushed engineering and manufacturing to the absolute limits. The cold war drove these on and the Space Race was a byproduct of this political crisis.
This lead to the information technology revolution and the global connectivity we have today. This global connectivity has terrified governments around the world, the NSA data acquisition farce being a byproduct of this fear.
We now have a challenge of biblical proportions facing us today it is both terrifying and exhilarating, how do we deal with a massive change in the way our biosphere is reacting to the very way we live today. I don't care what the political flavor of the moment happens to be, but the data sets are undeniable, global warming is occurring and it is a man made problem. As all engineers know, every action has a reaction and sometimes it is less than predictable than the Newtonian laws would have us believe due to ignorance, cost cutting or human error.
There have been great advances in renewable technology from the very basic solar thermal systems right up to nanotechnology being used to develop membranes for fuel cell catalysts. Information technology has given us processing capabilities hardly imaginable even just twenty years ago.
When I hear people ask me what is the solution I always say that the technology is there in the main, and even if it is not complete given the financial backing and will to succeed, then scientists and engineers can make some stunning breakthroughs.
We have a connected world of millions of scientists and engineers, we have a global problem worth solving, what we sadly also have is a lack of the political courage to launch such an international project.
Just as IT changed our lives changing our energy sources will make redundant many industries and these industries know there profits are threatened and are leading the charge in misinformation. However when they see the inevitable collapse of their business model they will rapidly change their objectives. The politics comes in by making it absolutely clear they will have to change to thrive, otherwise they will be thrown on the scrap heap of history.
I do not know many engineers [no matter their personal politics] that given a problem and project of this amplitude would not be passionately motivated to contribute to the solution.
I regard climate change and the improvement of our biosphere as the greatest engineering challenge the human race has ever faced and merits the launch of global project of equal scale. The results might just be mind boggling, I'm still mind-boggled when I consider our tiny work stations capabilities when compared to main frames the size of a garage just a few decades ago. I envisage a whole new infrastructure to our cities, passive buildings, and a whole new way of living, in other words I dream.
Jobs? You say you want jobs?
Just launch the program, please; just launch the goddamned program then you will have all the jobs [and profits] you could ever dream of.