Waking up to climate change

In the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, (a definitive overview of where climate science stands today, based on facts and little else), the IPCC states the following:

“Global surface temperature will continue to increase until at least the mid-century under all emissions scenarios considered. Global warming of 1.5°C and 2°C will be exceeded during the 21st century unless deep reductions in carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gas emissions occur in the coming decades.”

Curious to know what that might look like, I did a little research and discovered this and this and this and this.

What I learned is that a one-degree rise is enough to lose most of our coral reefs and mountain glaciers—and cause some of the worst storms, draughts, and famines in recorded history. A 3-degree rise would mean the collapse of the Amazon rainforest, disappearance of Greenland's ice sheet, and the creation of deserts across the United States and Southern Africa.

In other words, climate change is worse, much worse, than you think.

And the onus is on each and every one of us—in this single generation—to do something about it.