Reported today on The Guardian For the full article visit:
The climate science is clear: it's now or never to avert catastrophe
Bill McKibben
Disastrous global heating will soon become irrevocable – but despite politicians' inaction millions are taking to the streets to fight the planet's fever
Help us cover the critical issues of 2020. Make a contribution
The one thing never to forget about global warming is that it's a timed test.
It's ignoble and dangerous to delay progress on any important issue, of course – if, in 2020, America continues to ignore the healthcare needs of many of its citizens, those people will sicken, die, go bankrupt. The damage will be very real. But that damage won't make it harder, come 2021 or 2025 or 2030, to do the right thing about healthcare.
appeal
But the climate crisis doesn't work like that. If we don't solve it soon, we will never solve it, because we will pass a series of irrevocable tipping points – and we're clearly now approaching those deadlines. You can tell because there's half as much ice in the Arctic, and because forests catch fire with heartbreaking regularity and because we see record deluge. But the deadlines are not just impressionistic – they're rooted in the latest science.
In the aftermath of the Paris climate accords in 2015, for instance, many researchers set 2020 as the date by which carbon emissions would need to peak if we were to have any chance of meeting the accord's goals. Here's an example of the math, from Stefan Rahmstorf and Anders Levermann. Under the most plausible scenario, they wrote, "even if we peak in 2020 reducing emissions to zero within 20 years will be required," and that is an ungodly steep slope. But if we wait past 2020 it's not a slope at all – it's just a cliff, and we fall off it. As the former UN
0 Comments