To know that the climate is in serious trouble, you don't necessarily need to be a scientist. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's latest report was released Monday and it is a reminder of the real-world effects of the climate crisis.AdvertisementThe world's top climate scientists have given their most severe warning yet in a summer marked by unprecedented heat waves, wildfires and floods and all the suffering and death that they bring. The report states that human influence on climate is unambiguous. It then goes on to list a number of climate effects that will increase exponentially if we don't act.Ko Barrett, vice-chair of the IPCC stated that the IPCC had agreed with all member countries (195 countries) that it was unambiguous that human activity causes climate change. This is the strongest statement that the IPCC ever made.The report's 234 authors make it clear that the world has the best chance of avoiding the worst effects of climate change. They also show that every tenth degree and every ton of carbon pollution is important.This report comes at a time when the climate crisis is raging. It also happens to be just a few months away from a major conference in Glasgow, which will push countries to increase their Paris Agreement pledges. Right now, the current batch of commitments would leave the world on track to blow past the agreements goal of limiting heating to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), let alone the stretch goal of capping emissions to meet the 1.5-degree-Celsius (2.7-degree-Fahrenheit) target. Big Oil, the main driver of the climate crisis, has done all it can to influence these talks. The IPCC's latest report underscores the need for countries to increase their pledges and to ignore the delays.G/O Media might get a great deal CBD Tincture oil Higher concentration to help with the harder daysIdeal for daily stress relief and anxiety relief. Boosted by Vitamins D3 and B12.Sunday Scaries: Buy for $34Barrett stated that it is possible to prevent many of the worst impacts. However, this requires extraordinary transformational changethat involves rapid and immediate reductions in greenhouse gases.These are the Climate Change ImpactsThis site will tell you. The sixth report since 1990 still lays out the facts in stark terms. Global average temperature has increased by 2 degrees Fahrenheit (1.1 Celsius) due to fossil fuel burning. However, the effects of this heating are not evenly distributed. The Arctic is heating twice as fast as the global average. Already vulnerable areas, such as coastlines that see rising sea levels and drought-stricken regions all over the globe, are also suffering more.AdvertisementEven though some areas are more vulnerable than others the impacts of the climate crisis have reached every corner of the globe. There is no safe region, and the effects will only get worse if society doesn't act.Some changes could be locked in, according to the report. Some changes may not be possible to reverse the damage done to ice sheets over hundreds of years, if ever. The report proves that we cannot. Our only hope for survival is decarbonization.AdvertisementThe 1.5-Degree Threshold could be broken sooner than expected, but we can bend the curveThe IPCC published a warning three years ago that Earth's temperature would rise by 1.5 degrees Celsius. The future looks bright, according to the new report. It will come sooner than we anticipated, likely within the next decade or so. The 2018 IPCC estimates indicated that we would reach this level by 2040. However, the new report uses more accurate modeling to show that we could surpass that threshold by 2030. Even in the most optimistic scenario, where the world takes quick and broad climate action, 1.5 degrees Celsius could still be reached (at least temporarily).AdvertisementThe world's choices about how quickly to reduce carbon pollution will lead to divergent climates by midcentury. Global warming can be stopped by reducing emissions quickly and immediately. We will likely still exceed 1.5 degrees if world leaders make significant changes in every sector of society and economy to reduce emissions. We can change the course of events and keep the climate stable by the end the century.But, continue to emit and the world will heat further. This will have serious consequences. Some people will not be able adapt to new, more dangerous and hotter conditions.AdvertisementThe Report Identifies Radically Different Climate NarrativesScientists have developed a variety of scenarios to study the effects of climate change. These are called Socioeconomic Shared Pathways (SSPs). These scenarios offer a broad overview of the possible world, both socially and climate-wise.AdvertisementKim Cobb, a co-author of the report and a coral researcher from Georgia Tech, said that the new report makes no concessions about the continuing consequences of rising greenhouse gas emissions and how they will impact climate in the coming decades.The new IPCC shows that there are many pathways that are completely different from the current. They are, however, very different. SSP5-8.5 (the most pessimistic scenario) and SSP3-7.0 (the least optimistic) show that greenhouse gas emissions are rising to new heights during much of the 21st Century. The world would surpass the Paris Agreement's temperature goals by midcentury. Global warming would continue to accelerate and the planet would reach 7.9 degrees Fahrenheit (4.4 degree Celsius) by century's end.AdvertisementThis would lead to a world unrecognizable to us today. The biosphere would be destroyed, large swathes of the planet would be uninhabitable, heat waves that occur once in 50 years in our climate today would become the norm. These heat waves would also be 9.5 degrees (5.3 Celsius) hotter.An alternative scenario, which aligns with current climate pledges around the world, would be only slightly better. Andrew Dessler, a Texas A&M climate scientist, stated in an email that even under that scenario, the effects would be so severe that it could well refer to Hurricane Harvey and the PNW heatwave as well as the California fires, as the good ol' days.AdvertisementThe more optimistic scenarios are equally unrecognizable. These scenarios, SSP1-1.9 and SSP1-2.6, would help the world reach the Paris Agreement targets. In the case of SSP1-1.9, the world will likely meet the 1.5-degree target. However, society would be more foreign than the climate system. Yes, a world at 1.5 degrees Celsius would be more dangerous and hotter. For example, heat waves lasting fifty years would be eight-and-a half times more likely, and 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2° Celsius) warmer. It's not great, but it is certainly easier than the alternatives.AdvertisementThis goal requires a massive reshuffle of society. It would be like trying to squeeze all medical advancements between penicillin and today's mRNA vaccinations into just a few decades.Just as these advances have been good for us, so should addressing carbon pollution. It would reduce air pollution from burning fossil fuels and also lower the impact of climate change on the most vulnerable. We would choose this radically new future if we restructure society to save lives. We would choose to be focused on shared prosperity. We would choose to preserve nature.AdvertisementWe Cant Rule Out Dangerous Climate Tipping PointsScientists have warned for years that climate change could lead to certain tipping pointsscenarios, where global warming triggers a series of self-perpetuating feedback loops. This is the first IPCC report that takes a detailed look at them. The report finds that most of them are unlikely but we cannot rule them out.AdvertisementA harrowing study revealed that the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circle is at an important tipping point. This could lead to sea level rises and temperatures dropping sharply. Recent reports also claim that the Amazon rainforest has reached a tipping point, producing more carbon than it sequesters due to fires.These and other events, such as the Greenland ice-sheet melting, are considered possible by the IPCC. However, they are unlikely. These prospects are being acknowledged by the IPCC, a notoriously conservative organization, which is alarming for climate scientists.AdvertisementAll of this is not new science, but it's still importantThese top-line observations have been evident for decades. The warming trend was predicted by early IPCC models. Each IPCC report clearly states that the longer we delay decarbonization, then the greater the chance of catastrophic climate collapse and the more difficult the actual decarbonization process will be.AdvertisementThese reports are conservative by nature. Seven years have passed since the last IPCC was published. This new version summarises all of the science done between and compiles 14,000 citations to the final product. This conservatism can be beneficial; it's nice to have a standard for climate science. It can be frustrating, however. People are already dying from climate change and it feels like a luxury to wait seven years for a report.The timing of the IPCC report's release is crucial. The U.S. Democrats are currently weighing a series of major infrastructure bills. This could be the last chance this decade for the world's largest historical emitter to improve its performance. All countries are invited to the November meeting in Glasgow.AdvertisementDessler stated that we know how to solve the problem. Our energy system must be switched from fossil fuels to climate safe energy. This is not a mystery.Emissions reduction is not a one-click affair. It takes hard work. Scientists have given up. It is now up to civil society to press leaders to act.
