The latest IPCC Report came out 3 days ago. We have a small window, approximately 12 years, left to prevent the worst effects of global warming from being input permanently into our ecosystem. It's time for fundamental shifts in our way of life, mindsets, and actions and it's all do-able with the motivation and will-power of us all together. As Eric Holthaus says below, "the decade of the 2020s is about to be the most important years in all of humanity."
Links to the IPCC report and a couple of articles about it below.
"The day of the last big IPCC report—September 27, 2013—I gave up flying for good. Today, I'm committing to courage. The IPCC says we need to imagine and build an entirely different society between now and 2030, so I'm committing to my own personal 10-year plan to do just that.
Today's report is 1000 pages long, but there’s really just one main point to take away: Everyone and every idea is now a necessary part of the solution. We are all in this together. I’ve said that before, sure, but it feels visceral now, in the hours since this report’s release.
The report admits that “there is no documented historic precedent” for the scale of changes that would be necessary. Still, the world has briefly achieved such rapid change at regional levels during great crises — like post-WWII or rebounding from the energy crisis of the 1970s.
We’re about to enter one of the most creative, meaningful, transcendent eras of human history -- simply because we must. If you take the report literally -- which you should! -- the decade of the 2020s is about to be the most important years in all of humanity."
~Eric Holthaus
While all countries committed under the Paris Agreement to limit global temperature rise to 1.5˚C-2˚C (2.7-3.6˚ F), major questions remained: How can the world achieve this temperature goal? And what happens if it doesn’t?
The world’s leading climate scientists, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), answered these questions and more in their latest report released today. Nearly 100 scientists analyzed how the world can achieve the 1.5˚C goal, as well as impacts associated with this rise in temperature.
Here are eight findings:
Limiting warming to 1.5˚C requires major and immediate transformation.
The scale of the required low-carbon transition is unprecedented.
“Limiting warming to 1.5˚C” can mean different things—with different results.
A 1.5˚C limit to warming is not safe for all…
…but risks associated with warming are substantially lower at 1.5˚C than 2˚C.
Emissions will need to reach net-zero around mid-century.
All 1.5˚C emissions pathways rely upon carbon removal to some extent.
Everyone – countries, cities, the private sector, individuals — will need to strengthen their action, without delay.
Turning Evidence into Action
There’s no sugarcoating it: Keeping warming to 1.5˚C will be hard. Really hard. But the IPCC report also makes it clear that the world has the scientific understanding, the technological capacity and the financial means to tackle climate change. Now what we need is the political will to precipitate the unprecedented concerted actions necessary to stabilize temperature rise below 1.5 C.
BBC environment correspondent Matt McGrath outlines five key takeaways from one of the most important reports on rising temperatures issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Their study, on the impacts and possible methods of keeping temperatures from warming by more than 1.5C, has just been launched in South Korea.
It is 'seriously alarming' but surprisingly hopeful
"Now, more than ever, the illusions of division threaten our very existence. We all know the truth: more connects us than separates us. But in times of crisis the wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers. We must find a way to look after one another as if we were one single tribe.” -King T'Challa, Black Panther
The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it. ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is. ~Winston Churchill
I believe in global warming, but I also believe in freedom and capitalism more. It seems to me that most of the solutions being proposed are hugely expensive and limit my freedoms. Converting coal plants to natural gas is one solution that has brought down emissions and pollution and proved cheaper in the long run. Fracking, hated by the Enviros, has actually done a lot of good. Especially as Europe changes over from oil and coal power to natural gas.
Shutting down nuclear power in Germany and other places I think was a bad call. France still uses nuclear and has been selling their surplus to nations like Germany which invested too heavily into solar in a region that doesn't get much sun.
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
towermonkey wrote: Has the IPCC ever been right about one of their predictions? I mean without altering the data sets to make it appear that they were right of course.
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
Since we have been periodically posting updates (e.g. 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016) of model output comparisons to observations across a range of variables, we have now set up this page as a permanent placeholder for the most up-to-date comparisons. We include surface temperature projections from 1981, 1988, CMIP3, CMIP5, and satellite products (MSU) from CMIP5, and we will update this on an annual basis, or as new observational products become available. For each comparison, we note the last update date.
"Now, more than ever, the illusions of division threaten our very existence. We all know the truth: more connects us than separates us. But in times of crisis the wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers. We must find a way to look after one another as if we were one single tribe.” -King T'Challa, Black Panther
The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it. ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is. ~Winston Churchill
And then there is the other question. The US is limiting emissions. How do you make China and India limit theirs? Sanctions? If they can't sell goods here, they can shut down some of those polluting factories. And if their economy declines, they won't be using as many fossil fuels.
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
