I wrote this DAME article because the latest IPCC report paints a bleak climate future. But there is hope…
Please enjoy this excerpt and then head over to DAME to learn what we need to do to create a lasting, sustainable relationship with our planet:
In August, the IPCC released its most recent and updated report on what we know about climate change, and it read like a marriage counselor giving a final word of advice to the partner causing all of the relationship turmoil. In simple terms, it said, we (humans) have a choice: we can either stop abusing the Earth or spend the rest of our days miserable on a hot-ass planet. The Earth is in the process of filing divorce papers against us. She is literally sick of our drama.
The panel reported that human influence is unequivocally responsible for the warming trends that have intensified the planet’s temperatures at a rate that has not been seen for the past 2,000 years. Unless there are immediate, bold, and rapid reductions of greenhouse gas emissions, particularly methane and carbon dioxide, there is no way we will be able to limit global warming to the targeted 1.5 degree Celsius necessary to slow catastrophic weather events. Due to our failure to limit emissions thus far, there are some changes that we cannot reverse, such as rising ocean temperatures and levels, the effects of which are being felt right now. Last week, a hurricane hit New England while floods and heat waves ravaged Tennessee to the Carolinas. On August 29, the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Ida barreled through the exact same area with category 4 force winds. It seems that now, extreme weather is our reality, so much so that the panel also changed and shifted a third of their report to address risk management and adaptation measures.
But we still have a shot at slowing warming and putting a clamp on worsening weather while we attempt to adapt to our new climate reality… READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE