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A new report from the United Nations climate panel has warned about the dire consequences of climate change, both now and in future. The report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned of health risks from climate change, including from heat exposure, disease and mental health issues.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, “I have seen many scientific reports in my time, but nothing like this. … [This]Report is a comprehensive analysis of human suffering and a damning accusation of climate leadership failures. With fact upon fact, this report reveals how people and the planet are getting clobbered by climate change.”
A few weeks ago, many news outlets carried the message of the IPCC. Even if it’s something you already know, the report is worth repeating! Unfortunately, the scientific results are worse than anyone could have guessed.
The report was assembled by 270 scientists representing 67 countries, who reviewed thousands upon thousands of studies. Unlike a previous analysis released by UN climate scientists that I reported on last August, the new report focuses on how climate change is affecting our world rather than on the physical science of climate change itself. It’s the first report of its kind since 2014.
The report shows that the climate crisis has affected every corner of the globe. The climate crisis has affected every country. Worse yet, the report says that the climate effects aren’t evenly distributed and that poor and vulnerable people face the greatest risks.
According to the authors, climate change is already causing major disruptions in nature and society. We have all read, witnessed or experienced the increased severity of wildfires, heat waves, coastal erosion and flooding here in the U.S.. And, according to the report, due to changes in cycles of evaporation and precipitation worldwide, about half of the world’s population is already experiencing severe water shortages. Warmer, wetter weather makes Lyme and other illnesses more easily transmissible. In some areas, it is more difficult to work outside due to the higher temperatures. This puts certain sectors of the economy at high risk.
Climate change has been shown to have caused the decline of many bird, insect, and animal species, leading to some species’ extinction. The report says that about half of all Earth’s species have changed where they live, moving to higher elevations or toward the north and south poles. This is a serious threat to humanity because we rely on plants and animals to provide food, pollinate our crops and protect us from flooding.
And all regions are affected — including New England. According to the report, southern New England lost 78 percent its lobster population. It also found that winter sports are becoming less feasible. This message was also heard loud and clear at the Winter Olympics this year.
Greenhouse gas emissions continue to be a problem. The Amazon rainforest, once a major source of carbon sequestration, is now believed produce more carbon than the Amazon rainforest removes. Things will get worse if we don’t make massive efforts to reduce carbon emissions. According to the report, severe weather events will become the norm and all life on Earth will be at risk. Delaying cuts in heat-trapping carbon emissions and waiting on adapting to warming’s impacts, it warns “will miss a brief and rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a livable and sustainable future for all.”
The 36-page summary, condensed from more than 1,000 pages of analysis, was written by scientists and then edited line-by-line by governments and scientists with that final summary approved by consensus during a two-week virtual conference that occurred while Russia invaded Ukraine. Some authors reported that in the last hours of the conference, a Ukrainian delegates made a passionate plea for the report on climate change not to be overshadowed by the war. To that delegate I say Amen!
One of the things this report emphasized is the mental health toll that climate change has taken, both on people displaced or harmed by extreme weather and on people’s anxiety levels, especially youths worried about their futures.
The world is already struggling with climate change. However, the report stated that the future outcomes will depend on how urgently the world responds to it.
John Kerry, U.S. special climate envoy, has called for a strong response from the U.S. because legislative action has been stalled due to disagreements over President Biden’s climate and social spending plan.
“Denial and delay are not strategies, they are a recipe for disaster,” Kerry said. “The best scientists in the world have shown us that we must accelerate adaptation action, with urgency and at scale. Our efforts to date have been too small and too fragmented to match the scale of the impacts we are already experiencing, let alone the threats we expect in the future.”
“The magnitude and rate of climate change and associated risks depend strongly on near-term mitigation and adaptation actions, and projected adverse impacts and related losses and damages escalate with every increment of global warming,” the IPCC report said. No matter where you are on the political spectrum, let’s all work together to support the necessary actions to move us forward in this critical area.
Experts say they don’t want to be afraid of doom despite all the danger signals. “Fear is not a good advisor and never is,” German vice chancellor and minister for climate and economy Robert Habeck told the Associated Press. “Hope is the right one.”
Donna Lane owns Lane Interiors & Gardens, is a master gardener, past president of the Norwood Evening Garden Club, and an active member of many other horticultural organizations. You can reach Donna at [email protected].
