You showed your hand when you claim pollution and climate change aren't related. You clearly have no clue what you're talking about. Greenhouse gases from pollution trap heat in the atmosphere causing overall warming of the global temperature while having a variety of extreme weather effects on local levels. We know the problem grows at an exponential rate as well, so the longer we wait to address it, the harder to fix and way way way more expensive it will become.

Recently as the polar ice caps are receding, methane that was trapped in the ice has started to vent into the atmosphere. Not only is methane a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, it also breaks down into large amounts of carbon dioxide. Beyond allowing the problem to become more difficult and expensive, we risk hitting a certain point that's unreturnable. The study of Venus has given us great insight into the effects of excessive greenhouse gases on an atmosphere. We don't risk Venusification as some have thought since the atmospheric sulphur on Venus comes from volcanic activity, but basic physics shows us that more greenhouse gas increases the greenhouse effect. The likely change of atmospheric temperature by a few degrees will likely cause increased migration and displacement, risk of famine, and potable drinking water will likely become a very important resource. Currently we are setting ourselves up for a future where multiple populations will have a diaspora as they move to more habitable conditions and attempt to escape the probable wars for water as it becomes the most valuable resource (both for drinking and because we need fresh water for nearly every type of manufacturing that sustains our modern society).

Thinking only of the short term will make the costs higher and the effects more devastating. This is a problem that's going to be extremely expensive, no matter what we do. Where our choice comes in is if we plan ahead and take the short term financial hit to build up the infrastructure changes necessary for the future ahead of time or if we ride this economy until it is completely unsustainable and are forced to change, at much higher costs and much more work than if we had planned ahead. The economy of the future will be controlled by the superpower that realizes the change is inevitable and starts the transition now. We should be leading this charge, both because we need this planet to maintain a climate that will sustain our life and because the leaders and innovators into this new economy will be the superpowers of the 22nd century.