The latest report issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says that we have a window of just 12 years to take meaningful steps to curb global warming. The IPCC report says that the situation is even worse than was feared and that we could adjust to an average global temperature increase of 1.5oC but no more.
Here are some excerpts from the press release issued by the IPCC.
Limiting global warming to 1.5oC would require rapid, far- reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society, the IPCC said in a new assessment. With clear benefits to people and natural ecosystems, limiting global warming to 1.5oC compared to 2oC could go hand in hand with ensuring a more sustainable and equitable society, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said on Monday
…The report highlights a number of climate change impacts that could be avoided by limiting global warming to 1.5oC compared with 2oC. For instance, by 2100, global sea level rise would be 10 cm lower with global warming of 1.5oC compared with 2oC. The likelihood of an Arctic Ocean free of sea ice in summer would be once per century with global warming of 1.5oC, compared with at least once per decade with 2oC. Coral reefs would decline by 70-90 percent with global warming of 1.5oC, whereas virtually all (> 99 percent) would be lost with 2oC.
The IPCC is the source of the most reliable and comprehensive information on global warming.
To produce its reports, the IPCC mobilizes hundreds of scientists. These scientists and officials are drawn from diverse backgrounds. Only a dozen permanent staff work in the IPCC’s Secretariat.
The IPCC has three working groups: Working Group I, dealing with the physical science basis of climate change; Working Group II, dealing with impacts, adaptation and vulnerability; and Working Group III, dealing with the mitigation of climate change. It also has a Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories that develops methodologies for measuring emissions and removals.
…Key statistics of the Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5oC
91 authors from 44 citizenships and 40 countries of residence.
- 14 Coordinating Lead Authors (CLAs)
- 60 Lead authors (LAs)
- 17 Review Editors (REs)
133 Contributing authors (CAs)
Over 6,000 cited references
A total of 42,001 expert and government review comments
You can read the report here.
The warnings keep getting more and more dire. Will US policymakers ever listen or will they continue whistling towards catastrophe?
Meh, buncha scientists. What do they know about political reality?
(Sarcasm, in case that wasn’t clear)
With the present administration and their supporters? Deny, deny, deny that there is any climate change until their dying day.
My question is: Will the green party people in the rest of the world heed these warnings and abandon their foolish plan of solar, wind, and other green tech in favor of something that will actually work in time, i.e. nuclear?