Thanks very much for your response, I think it makes the most sense - that is, 1.5 degrees isn't some "magic number", but every .1 degree makes things disproportionally worse, and we want to limit the damage as much as possible.
In that case, I think still harping on the 1.5 degree number is a communications mistake. It is obviously impossible at this point (see the edit in my original comment), and so I think focusing it risks encouraging a "well, this is obviously too late, might as well enjoy our bread and circuses while they last" attitude. I think it would be much better if scientists said "Remember when we warned you about that 1.5 degree limit? Well, y'all f'd that up, so now a lot of these dire predictions are going to come true. Oh, and here is a whole host of even more dire predictions that will occur for every .1 degree you miss the limit, so you better try to limit carbon emissions as much as you can to prevent things from becoming more screwed than they are already guaranteed to be."
I just think that any messaging that talks about things eventually being "too late" is bad from a public motivation standpoint.
Well what you are criticizing is mainly a problem of the media. Look at the actual IPCC report [0], there multiple scenarios are outlined, with 1.5 degrees being the most optimistic one, which makes sense. I did not read through it yet, but from a quick glance they do describe the impact of different scenarios, while also presenting measures to reach those, just like you asked for. You sadly can not expect that kind of nuance from the media though, most articles (just like the linked The Guardian article) seem to focus exclusively on the 1.5 degrees scenario.
In that case, I think still harping on the 1.5 degree number is a communications mistake. It is obviously impossible at this point (see the edit in my original comment), and so I think focusing it risks encouraging a "well, this is obviously too late, might as well enjoy our bread and circuses while they last" attitude. I think it would be much better if scientists said "Remember when we warned you about that 1.5 degree limit? Well, y'all f'd that up, so now a lot of these dire predictions are going to come true. Oh, and here is a whole host of even more dire predictions that will occur for every .1 degree you miss the limit, so you better try to limit carbon emissions as much as you can to prevent things from becoming more screwed than they are already guaranteed to be."
I just think that any messaging that talks about things eventually being "too late" is bad from a public motivation standpoint.