[ad_1]
This month, More than 300 peopleRecord rainfall in South Africa caused destruction of buildings and infrastructure in Kwa-Zulu Natal. After record rainfalls in South Africa, many were killed in the Philippines. Tropical storm MegiFloods and landslides have been triggered.
The world is rapidly shifting — and the impact of human-caused Climate changeIt is becoming more apparent.
Alex Hall, director of UCLA Center of Climate Science said that the climate scientist is in a completely different place than it was just a few decades back.
Hall, who was among the original teams to predict the effects on global warming and extreme heat back in the 1990s, is now retired. Arctic ice lossAnd sea level riseThese predictions “felt a little like abstractions once,” he said.
They are now almost daily observed. And without urgent action, these kinds of events — and others — will be more intense and frequent, Hall said, and change the scope of daily life for everyone, forever.
“You can’t put back the genie in the bottle.”
The current Earth situation is decades in the making. Professor Dan Blustein, an Ecology researcher, told CBS News that it takes many years to see the effects of climate changes. Once they are, they are essentially “burned into”
He stated, “You cannot put the genie in the bottle again.” “The problem with climate change is that we could stop burning carbon tomorrow, all of carbon tomorrow, and still have burning effects from carbon in the atmosphere.”
Today’s extreme eventsThese are just a small glimpse of what’s yet to come.
“We are already seeing huge increases in large storms. Hall, an atmospheric physicist said that Hurricane Harvey hit Houston and Hurricane Sandy in New York. “… This is what we’ve been anticipating with a warmer planet and we will have more impacts like that.”
Experts say that carbon emissions must immediately be addressed. Carbon dioxide is the most abundant of the greenhouse gases — a set of gases that in large quantities create a sort of heavy blanket in the atmosphere that traps heat on Earth. In 2020, carbon dioxide was responsible approximately 79% of all greenhouse gas emissionAccording to the Environmental Protection Agency, this is the case in the U.S.
The United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns that failure to limit this gas in the next eight years will result in the end. Bring about so much warmthThe 2030s will be marked by “extreme events that are unprecedented in the observational record”.
If we don’t act quickly, it will be a grim future.
Dr. Deborah Brosnan (scientist and marine resilience specialist) told CBS News that it is unlikely that the planet will return to its 20-year-old state. Things will continue to rapidly evolve, rather than reverse.
People in the Pacific Northwest will see, as it is. More intense heat wavesBrosnan stated that worsening air quality is a major concern, and that 20 million people living below 15 feet above the sea level in island nations will face significant storm surges and economic repercussions if their land is submerged by the sea.
Brosnan stated, “In some places, you’ve seen like 100 feet beach disappear.” “… Where do people who live so close to the ocean go? Where can they find new jobs? Where will they move? The islands will have to bear a heavy economic burden and don’t have enough resources.
Summers will become more hot due to the intense heat dangerous. Agriculture and food supply will suffer. People will be Forced to Migrate. The cost of living is expected to skyrocket. All of these factors — and more — will contribute to political and social instability worldwide.
The Paris Agreement has made it clear that countries will take steps to mitigate climate change. There are some signs of hope, such as increased civic engagement and rich countries showing “intention” to reduce their emissions. But there are still challenges. U.N. panel warns again in February that those pledges are so far “insufficient to limit warming to 1.5°C with no or limited overshoot.”
Essentially, It’s not enough. According to the group, the “window of opportunity for a livable tomorrow” is “rapidly closing.”
Hall says that this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do everything to mitigate.
He said that “on the contrary”, “it just underlines the urgency to act.”
“Eight years to turn the ship around”
Blumstein and Brosnan agreed that the future would look drastically different from what we currently know. Only large-scale, urgent action can make the most of the future’s harshest realities. Blumstein stated that we have the technology, knowledge and ability to accomplish this.
He stated, however, that “we really are running out time.”
“This isn’t a problem of ‘lack science’. Blumstein stated that this is not a problem of ‘lackof science’. “When you look at the environment from a geopolitical perspective we can see the perfect storm we are facing right now.
They said that the biggest problem in this storm is not holding governments and companies accountable for their actions or inaction in combating the climate crisis.
Last week, the Biden administration, for instance, announced that it would allow new oil & natural gas drilling leases for public land. This was a system that he had suspended just after he took office last January.
Blumstein stated that the Biden administration is shifting from ‘hey let’s support green energies’ to ‘hey let’s pump more oil to solve the geopolitical issues and prevent Russia selling their oil,’.” “That’s not good for the long-term or short-term. Our problems can’t be solved by pumping more oil in the near term. We will die if we continue to explore for more oil long-term.”
Brosnan said, “It’s messy.” “… At any level, we don’t have a cohesive transition policy. It’s not for government, communities, or the private sector.
“Personal choices are important”
While corporations and governments are the largest actors in the crisis, scientists interviewed by CBS News explained that individuals play an important role as well.
“That’s using paper straws. But it also comes down to what products you buy. Which companies are you most likely to support? Brosnan said that it is up to individuals to make the right choices. “… How do you vote? Do you get engaged?”
They explained that individual choices and sustainable lifestyle changes can lead to larger conversations and a sense community around climate change, and the overall health of the environment.
Blumstein stated that if we don’t respect other people on Earth, we won’t work together with people who might have different beliefs to solve our problems. “… It is the resurgence in the community spirit that will solve our problems.
Brosnan stated that experts’ dire warnings and the ever-worsening effects of climate change should be a wakeup call.
Brosnan said, “We have eight years… eight years left for the ship to turn.” “I don’t mean push the needle. As in literally turning the ship around.
[ad_2]
