I've had one or two people asking me about any timely interventions that can be made on HICC [human induced climate change], with reference to the latest IPCC report that came out last week.
Here's the page where the report exists on this thread:
https://www.not606.com/threads/politics-thread.323930/page-1000
I have said that we are very, very late. Pretty much in the last chance saloon, regards limiting the damage to our own ability to survive and live in a manageable way. If we had started 30 years ago we would easily have been fine and adjusted by now. But we're not. Ok, what is the state of play?
Here is
Todd Woody who is an environmental and technology journalist based in California. He has written for The New York Times and Quartz, and was previously an editor and writer at Fortune, and Forbes, and Business 2.0. Here, he sums up the report:
Ocean warming has doubled since 1993. The frequency of marine heat waves, which are devastating the world’s coral reefs, have doubled since 1982 and are intensifying. Reefs remain at high risk of extinction even if global temperature rise is kept to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, as called for by the Paris climate accord. Extreme flooding of coastal areas will likely occur at least yearly by 2050. Fish populations face collapse thanks to a combination of ocean acidification, loss of oxygen, and warming of the ocean’s surface, which blocks the flow of nutrients to and from the deep sea.
Alas, there’s more: Sea levels will continue to rise as the melting of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets accelerates throughout this century. If emissions are kept in check, sea levels could rise by an estimated 1 meter (3 feet) by 2300. But if carbon emissions climb unrestrained, sea levels could increase by several meters — without factoring in the potential collapse of Antarctic ice sheets.
Meanwhile, the Southern Ocean is heating up fast and accounted for as much as 62% of global ocean temperature rise between 2005 and 2017. That’s more bad news for small Pacific island nations that already contend with rising oceans, dwindling fishing stocks, and more frequent and intense tropical cyclones. Add to all this: Widespread thawing of permafrost could release tens to hundreds of billions of tons of carbon and methane into the atmosphere.
So, are we a lost cause? Are going to bequeathe a planet unfit for our children and grand-children to live in? The
IPCC says there
is hope:
The report finds that strongly reducing greenhouse gas emissions, protecting and restoring ecosystems, and carefully managing the use of natural resources would make it possible to preserve the ocean and cryosphere as a source of opportunities that support adaptation to future changes, limit risks to livelihoods and offer multiple additional societal benefits.
So, to any children reading this. Don't be afraid. Badger your parents and siblings
. The above is a pretty darned good reason to
skip school and protest across the world for not one,
but two days, if not more. Keep the pressure on, and hold the adults accountable.