Party on a Sinking Ship

There's a strange irony to global warming. On the one hand, the world is getting invariably hotter due to increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This will, of course, cause the ice caps to disintegrate and sea levels to rise, which will create coastal flooding and completely muck about with the air streams in the oceans, which will affect temperatures globally, which will affect crops, rainfall, etc. etc. etc. NASA recently estimated that the rate of melting is actually increasing. All of this has, of course, been precipitated by the human race's use of fossil fuels.
Not much has been done in terms of stalling the rise of temperatures past the point of no return, though steps have been taken, such as in China. In other places, such as in Australia, where James Bond villain caricature and Prime Minister Tony Abbott has sought to renew Australia's use of coal. The debates in the US congress might as well be made into mythical songs, given that around half of Republicans in congress don't believe in climate change.
On the other hand, companies have already started lining up for the possibility of drilling for oil in the eventually melted arctic ice shelf. And even though President Obama has continually vocalized for action to be taken on global warming, he allowed for Shell to resume its drilling in the Arctic. It's generally unsurprising, given that the US is set to become the largest oil producer in the world, if it isn't already.
Obama put it well enough himself in his bit during the 2015 Correspondents Dinner when he had 'Luther the anger translator' yodeling behind him: ignoring the science of climate change is stupid, irresponsible bullshit. And yet, he's still allowing for continual mining of the very resource that contributes to rising global temperatures.
Some companies (notably Shell) have bandied around the tag that oil helps underdeveloped countries/regions catch up to more developed countries, but that entire mode of thinking is completely illogical. Wouldn't introducing clean technologies allow for an even greater leap in development? Why not fund research for more efficient solar energy in regions around the equator and on island nations?
I like to imagine that most world leaders, either at the corporate or government level, go into their positions believing that they can change their country and the world for the better (except for Tony Abbott. And David Cameron, for that matter, who said that climate change is serious but still advocates for hydrolic fracturing, aka fracking). They then, after learning the ins and outs of the job, succumb to the pressures of economics, or at least to the silver tongues of advisers with deep, wide pockets.
Or I could be entirely wrong and most elected leaders are just very good orators with no actual substance behind them. Tomato, tomato.