You can, in fact, put shovel to ground, and shovel is to ground.
But it takes time to build out a wholesale replacement for existing global infrastructure. Fortunately, it takes much, much less time and expense than replacing with nukes, and much, much less expense than continuing to operate existing infrastructure.
We could have started this decades ago, and not be facing imminent catastrophe. Jimmy Carter (a former nuclear engineer) tried to get us on that road.
The overwhelmingly biggest impediment to wholesale replacement for radically cheaper energy is social and structural inertia, chiefly apathy in the ruling class. Ignorance is the largest contributor.
But it takes time to build out a wholesale replacement for existing global infrastructure. Fortunately, it takes much, much less time and expense than replacing with nukes, and much, much less expense than continuing to operate existing infrastructure.
We could have started this decades ago, and not be facing imminent catastrophe. Jimmy Carter (a former nuclear engineer) tried to get us on that road. The overwhelmingly biggest impediment to wholesale replacement for radically cheaper energy is social and structural inertia, chiefly apathy in the ruling class. Ignorance is the largest contributor.