We are out of time.”
- Kim Cobb
Many weather and climatic extremes are already being influenced by human-caused climate change in every corner of the world. Changes are also being detected in the atmosphere, oceans, ice floes, and on land, all of which are part of the Earth's climate system.
Many of these alterations are unprecedented, and some are already underway, while others, such as continuous sea-level rise, are already ‘irreversible' for decades to millennia. However, there is still time to minimise climate change. Strong and persistent reductions in carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gas emissions could improve air quality immediately, and global temperatures could stabilise in 20 to 30 years.
The Working Group's findings, according to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, is "a code red for mankind." The warning bells are ringing, and the evidence is unmistakable." He remarked that the internationally agreed-upon global warming threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels was "dangerously close." We are on the verge of exceeding 1.5 degrees Celsius in the near future. The only way to avoid crossing this line is to ratchet up our efforts and pursue the most ambitious course possible.
Humans Handiwork
The research states that human-caused greenhouse gas emissions are responsible for approximately 1.1°C of warming between 1850 and 1900 and that global temperature is anticipated to approach or exceed 1.5°C in the next 20 years.
Hear Them Out
IPCC has been warning us about the dangers of global warming for more than three decades. The world was listening, but it was not hearing. The world listened but did not respond forcefully enough. As a result, climate change is a present-day problem. There is no one who is safe. And it's only getting worse.
Working from home or locally, for example, minimises commuting and reduces demand for transportation fuels by improving thermal insulation and draught-proofing of structures. Heavy carbon taxes could be imposed, but not across the board, to protect the poorest people from being disproportionately affected by rising energy costs. Instead, “luxury” activities such as unnecessary flights and travel in general, excessive car ownership (number and size), and the purchase of (mostly imported) non-essential consumer “stuff” – frippery that no one needs and may not truly want – could be targeted.
Despite our “civilization's” incredible technological advancements and “progress,” people may remain too immature to collaborate to the amount required to complete the big “energy” transition, and will continue to argue and bicker into the fires of Hell!
To encourage non-carbon intensive mobility (walking and cycling), towns and cities must be reconfigured around community hubs where housing, work, and leisure activities are all integrated into the same area, as well as low-energy local food cultivation and soil development. Natural regeneration can be promoted within and around community spaces, resulting in low-maintenance pollinator corridors and habitats in towns and villages, transforming them into an insect reserve network. The entire use of resources and trash creation, as well as associated emissions of greenhouse and landfill gases, can be reduced by establishing repair cafes.
Wake Up!
We all cook together in the same global pot if we do nothing or only half-heartedly. As a result, we must minimise emissions. There is no going back to normal; either by purpose or by default, we have entered a new era. We must fundamentally alter our way of life, or it will be modified for us. A camel getting through the eye of a needle is easier than mankind transforming its prevalent mindset and embarking on a planned, voluntary decline from a state of overshoot to a steady-state harmonious relationship with the ecosphere—in just a decade or two.
We are all aware of the drama as individuals, businesses, and governments. We've witnessed the theatrics, and we've heard about it on every news broadcast. And that's what we need to understand: the manifestation of what science says is there in front of our eyes, and what this fantastic study does is project those scenarios outward, telling us what might happen if we don't act, and what might happen if we do act.
Author Details:
Name: Vachi Vidyarthi
Batch: 2021-23
Great article!
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