Humanity is on track to reach and surpass the 1.5° C planetary heating.
The latest UN Climate Report from the UN Environmental Program reports that the world may exceed the 1.5° C global heating limit on degrees of heating and goal of the UN Climate countries which had projected that that temperature could occur by 2100. It’s likely we will exceed the 1.5° C in the next few years. The UN is declaring an emergency.
Cooling Down Will Not Happen on a Timescale Meaningful to Humans
Global heating will not lessen but continue to rise as long as the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide [CO2] continues to rise. Once the ocean begins to heat up it does not release the heat in any time period meaningful to human beings. What that means is that the world is heating and will not cool down even after we have stopped contributing more CO2 to the atmosphere.
The largest contributors of [CO2] historically are the early industrializing countries with the U.S.A. leading. While today we have reduced our [CO2] contributions according to commitments made as part of the various international agreements countries pledged to meet, we must continue to dramatically reduce our current contributions to greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). Efforts around the world to increase the production of clean energy sources have had outstanding success. China has so much clean energy production they have a problem of how to store the excess. Even in the USA where the current administration has stopped the momentum for clean energy production while declaring there is no such thing as climate change, and has increased fossil fuel development, the U.A. has continued to build out clean energy infrastructure. The momentum cannot be totally blocked because clean energy is cheaper keeping economic advantages that drive ongoing development. The U.S. public has also continued pressure for cleaner, cheaper power and infrastructure.
Resources for Readers
On Substack
- What If We Get It Right? Ayana Elizabeth Johnson – Ayana read the UN Report on Limiting Overshoot of the 1.5° C
- The Crucial Years – Bill McKibben updates on election and climate (September 7)
- The Weekly Anthropocene – Sam Matey-Coste Interview with Professor Jeremy Ney: Professor Ney and Sam discuss many of America’s climate related challenges with positive gains on development of clean energy updates by Sam
I recommend all three Substack accounts for reliable updates, with Sam keeping track of positive energy developments across the world. I read Sam as I would a hope serum.
Susan Feathers 