Guardian - The Climate Crisis Is Here; Large Parts Of The World Will Be Uninhabitable w/i Decades

[hatrack]

This is a good summary and worth clicking to since I can't reproduce their excellent graphics here.

EDIT

Despite the rapid advance of renewable energy and, more recently, electric vehicles, countries still remain umbilically connected to fossil fuels, subsidizing oil, coal and gas to the tune of around $11m every single minute. The air pollution alone from burning these fuels kills nearly nine million people each year globally. Decades of time has been squandered – US president Lyndon Johnson was warned of the climate crisis by scientists when Joe Biden was still in college and yet industry denial and government inertia means the world is set for a 2.7C increase in temperature this century, even if all emissions reduction pledges are met.

By the end of this year the world will have burned through 86% of the carbon “budget” that would allow us just a coin flip’s chance of staying below 1.5C. The Glasgow COP talks will somehow have to bridge this yawning gap, with scientists warning the world will have to cut emissions in half this decade before zeroing them out by 2050. “2.7C would be very bad,” said Wehner, who explained that extreme rainfall would be up to a quarter heavier than now, and heatwaves potentially 6C hotter in many countries. Maycock added that much of the planet will become “uninhabitable” at this level of heating. “We would not want to live in that world,” she said.

A scenario approaching some sort of apocalypse would comfortably arrive should the world heat up by 4C or more, and although this is considered unlikely due to the belated action by governments, it should provide little comfort. Every decision – every oil drilling lease, every acre of the Amazon rainforest torched for livestock pasture, every new gas-guzzling SUV that rolls onto the road – will decide how far we tumble down the hill. In Glasgow, governments will be challenged to show they will fight every fraction of temperature rise, or else, in the words of Greta Thunberg, this pivotal gathering is at risk of being dismissed as “blah, blah, blah”.

“We’ve run down the clock but it’s never too late,” said Rogelj. “1.7C is better than 1.9C which is better than 3C. Cutting emissions tomorrow is better than the day after, because we can always avoid worse happening. The action is far too slow at the moment, but we can still act.”

EDIT/END

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2021/oct/14/climate-change-happening-now-stats-graphs-maps-cop26

[PoliticAverse]

1. In other news, China will be increasing their carbon emissions for at least the next decade or so.

[hatrack]

2. Yes, but their carbon intensity new technology clean coal diversification innovation thing thing!

.

[Glorfindel]

3. Scary stuff!

Thanks for posting it, hatrack.

[rickyhall]

4. Sounds like most scifi movies since Last Man on Earth (1964).

[Random Boomer]

5. Because we have such a good track record the past few years...

Since 2020, fully one-third of Americans have shown they are adamantly opposed to even minor inconveniences that could save their own lives. At least another third have shown limited attention span for enduring minor inconveniences, even though they recognize it could cost them their own lives. That leaves one-third of Americans who give a crap about themselves and the welfare of other people.

Now ask this country to moderate meat consumption, air-conditioning, travel, and buying stuff because it will help the next generation.

Disaster will strike and at some point, then MAYBE people will make small sacrifices, until they see that climate disasters are still getting worse and nothing they do has an impact on the current conditions. They'll figure out that depriving themselves won't make a damn bit of difference to their own situation, and they'll go right back to where they were before because "it's not like I'll ever get anything out of it."