This is an important point. It's not fruitless to continue to pursue mitigation, but complete mitigation in the sense that we can expect our future lives to loo

This is an important point. It's not fruitless to continue to pursue mitigation, but complete mitigation in the sense that we can expect our future lives to look anything like present day is a pipe dream. At this point mitigation is simply damage control. Short of completely miraculous technology, there will be no rewinding this situation. So what that leaves is adaptation and preservation. Learn new ways to live and things to live for, like you were saying before. Preserve what we can of the natural world, even if all that boils down to are fancy zoos and aquariums. Save the genetic code of as many creatures as possible, and freeze it in a vault next to the South Pole. We already have a seed vault but we need more, and that one has been subject to melting and flooding already so we need to do better. It's only when we can clearly admit the scope of the problem that we can pursue the most effective actions at this juncture.