A new report released this week by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns that the world is fast approaching the point where we will no longer be able to keep the earth’s temperature from rising more than 1.5 degrees C. This is the increase that most scientists think can minimize climate impacts from the rising temperatures, including rising sea levels and melting ice caps, increases in droughts, heat waves, and floods, and increases in pests and diseases that will threaten people, livestock and crops as well as natural ecosystems.
Unfortunately, the report also makes it clear that our current behavior is totally inadequate to reining in the increases, and drastic measures will need to be taken to keep our children and grandchildren from suffering from the dire consequences of the overheated climate. We are already starting to see some of the impacts from the warmer temperatures, and since it takes about 30 years from the time of carbon emission until the impacts of that carbon increase are seen in rising temperatures, what we are doing now will not been seen in the atmosphere for a long time. Global temperatures now are higher than any time in the history of human beings, and are likely to continue to skyrocket unless carbon emissions are reduced.
Here are a few stories on the report:
IPCC home page: https://www.ipcc.ch/index.htm
Time: https://time.com/5418134/ipcc-climate-change-report-2030-crisis/
CNN: https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/07/world/climate-change-new-ipcc-report-wxc/
The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/08/global-warming-must-not-exceed-15c-warns-landmark-un-report
Ban Ki-Moon in Time: https://time.com/5416793/climate-change-ban-ki-moon-trump/
