Source: It’s Time to Phase Out Fossil Fuels! – FossilFreeUMC
Consider the recently released 2024 State of the Climate Report: Perilous Times on Planet Earth, which describes our current situation in alarming terms reminiscent of the Hebrew prophets:
“We are on the brink of an irreversible climate disaster. This is a global emergency beyond any doubt. Much of the very fabric of life on Earth is imperiled…. We find ourselves amid an abrupt climate upheaval, a dire situation never before encountered in the annals of human existence. We have now brought the planet into climatic conditions never witnessed by us or our prehistoric relatives within our genus, Homo.…” Read the rest here.
What does the science say about where we are and what’s at stake with climate change? Average global temperatures have risen by 1.18° Celsius since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, when we started emitting industrial greenhouse gas emissions. That’s 2.13° Fahrenheit. The earth has a fever. Last year was the hottest ever recorded, and this year will probably surpass it.
Science tells us that we need to limit average temperature rise to 1.5° C to prevent cascading climate impacts, and that this is the decade in which we must act if we hope to stay under 1.5° or even 2° C. Here’s how the scientists put it in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s 6th Assessment Report (See B.6):
Leave a Reply