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We can avoid catastrophic climate change, but it’s going to be really, really hard.

Independent 8th Oct 2018 , It’s easy to become numb to stories about climate change. The headlines
become more and more dramatic, the conclusions more terrifying, but it’s
such a big, unwieldy topic, and who has time to be constantly worried about
environmental Armageddon?

Hailed by the scientific community as a true game
changer, a moment for the history books, a new climate report from the UN
may have what it takes to pierce through this climate apathy. It’s not
because the conclusions are particularly new.

As the report is based on thousands of existing scientific studies, followers of environmental news
will already be familiar with stories of coral dying, sea ice melting and
Pacific islanders forced from their ancestral homes.

But the conclusions of this report seem particularly hard-hitting. Firstly because everything –
from melting ice to dying animals – is presented in one place, but secondly
because the outcome is so straightforward.

We can avoid catastrophic climate change, they say, but it’s going to be really, really hard. The
report has essentially come about because despite being a regarded as an
impressive feat of international diplomacy, the 2015 Paris climate
agreement is a bit vague. It set a target of limiting global warming to
“well below 2C above pre-industrial levels” while also “pursuing efforts”
for more ambitious reductions of 1.5C.
https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change-ipcc-report-un-global-warming-heatwaves-paris-agreement-donald-trump-a8573226.html

October 9, 2018 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general