We’re Doing It to Ourselves

There’s this pervasive belief that the real decimation from global climate change is somewhere between 50 and 100 years away. All those maps showing devastating coastal water rises are way into the future, prompting many to shrug and either believe that technology will solve that problem by then or that the climate change we are experiencing is simply cyclical natural event that will dissipate to normal. The worst scenarios heap apocalyptic visions on distant generations… not us!

But according to a group of the best and the brightest scientists combing through the massive existing data, the thousands of well-researched articles written by the best climatologists in the world, the earth will be a tough place to live in within the very near term. The United Nations’ “Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has released a highly anticipated report that reveals a glimpse of Earth half a degree Celsius (0.5 C) warmer than it is today; and outlines what we must do to keep the global temperature from rising any higher.

“With the 2015 Paris Agreement, the word committed to keeping global warming below 2 C (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, and preferably below 1.5 C.

“According to the report released early Monday [10/8], the difference between these two goals is far more profound than the diminutive difference suggests, and would potentially spare hundreds of millions of people from poverty…

“At 1.5 C we can expect to see an ice-free Arctic summer once a century, according to the report. At 2 C, that risk shoots up to once every decade… Under the 2 C scenario, sea level rise is expected to be 10 centimeters (4 inches) higher than under the 1.5 C scenario.

“Human-caused climate change has already warmed the world by around 1 C, and the IPCC stresses how we are already seeing devastating consequences, particularly in the form of extreme weather.

“And then there are the coral reefs. Over past years, global warming has ravaged the oceans’ richest ecosystems, with bleaching events across the tropics. At 1.5 C, the IPCC reports says, we can expect to lose between 70 and 90 percent of our reefs. But 2 C of warming would see them virtually wiped out — a loss of at least 99 percent.” TheRealNews.com, October 8^th.

“But the headlines are that these are not harms we can expect in the distant future… It’s bad now – think about all the devastating hurricanes that have slammed into just the United States in the last three years, even as I am writing this blog – but in just 12 years, we could face mass starvation, serious and irreversible environmental damage, a spread of disease as infected insects migrate to find their temperature comfort zones. The new United Nations “study says that going past 1.5C is dicing with the planet's liveability. And the 1.5C temperature ‘guard rail’ could be exceeded in just 12 years, in 2030.

“We can stay below it - but it will require urgent, large-scale changes from governments and individuals and we will have to invest a massive pile of cash every year, about 2.5% of global gross domestic product (GDP), the value of all goods and services produced, for two decades.

“Even then, we will still need machines, trees and plants to capture carbon from the air that we can then store deep underground - forever… [While governments must act, individual action is necessary too.]

“But it adds that the world cannot meet its target without changes by individuals, urging people to: buy less meat, milk, cheese and butter and more locally sourced seasonal food - and throw less of it away • drive electric cars but walk or cycle short distances • take trains and buses instead of planes • use videoconferencing instead of business travel • use a washing line instead of a tumble dryer • insulate homes • demand low carbon in every consumer product

“Lifestyle changes can make a big difference, said Dr Debra Roberts, [one of the IPCC's co-chairs]… ‘That's a very empowering message for the individual," she said. ‘This is not about remote science; it is about where we live and work, and it gives us a cue on how we might be able to contribute to that massive change, because everyone is going to have to be involved… You might say you don't have control over land use, but you do have control over what you eat and that determines land use… We can choose the way we move in cities and if we don't have access to public transport - make sure you are electing politicians who provide options around public transport.’” BBC.com, October 8^th.

We know that our government is an outlier as one of the very few nations that deny than man-induced climate change. We’ve pulled out of the Paris climate accord and our President is pushing for a greater reliance on the most toxic source of electric power: coal-fired turbines. We really need to stop electing politicians who are perpetrating misery that will seriously challenge our quality of life, perhaps life itself, within the lifetimes of most of the world’s existing population.

I’m Peter Dekom, and failing to address climate change has become a matter of life and death.