We Need To Make ¡°Unprecedented Changes¡± If We Want To Survive Global Warming

I don¡¯t know about elsewhere in the world, but it¡¯s uncharacteristically hot for this time of year in India, isn¡¯t it? And people all over the country are noticing this. Well, that might have to do with the fact that we¡¯re just a sliver away from global warming completely ruining us.

Under the 2015 Paris Climate agreement, countries around the world came together to reduce pollution and curb global warming to within 1.5 degrees Celsius higher than pre-industrial levels. The thing is, we¡¯re already at the 1 degree mark, which means we don¡¯t have a lot of time. And, it gets worse.

According to the UN¡¯s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), even if we manage to hit our extended goals outlined by the Paris accord, end our reliance on fossil fuels, and revolutionise our very societies, and how they function, we¡¯re still well and truly effed. In their latest report, the IPCC says we¡¯ll need to make ¡°rapid and far-reaching changes¡± just to limit our temperature increase to 1.5 degrees.

To do this, we need to curb our carbon dioxide emissions by at least 45 percent (compared to 2010) by 2030. In addition, that needs to keep falling until it reaches ¡°net zero¡± by 2050, where we¡¯re offsetting our production by scrubbing it from the air.

¡°Limiting warming to 1.5 degrees is not impossible, but will require unprecedented transitions in all aspects of society,¡± says Hoesung Lee, chair of the IPCC. ¡°There are clear benefits to 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to 2 degrees or higher. Every bit of warming matters.¡±

If we fail to do that, the report details the many ways nature will strike back. That includes:

- Temperatures increasing across the globe, and ¡°extreme hot days¡± becoming worse as well as more frequent

- Increased flooding risks

- 10cm increase in sea levels

- Warming oceans causing a complete loss of Arctic Sea ice

- 99 percent of coral reefs dying

If that wasn¡¯t enough, even just another 0.5 degrees more than now isn¡¯t exactly pleasant. Temperatures will still rise, our oceans will acidify, and health problems will increase across the world.

Experts say the promises we made under the Paris accord are not enough for us to avoid disaster, but on top of that we also have to deal with countries like the US, that have expressed their intent to leave the accord entirely. And they¡¯re second-largest producer of CO2 in the world! Doomsday conspirators can rejoice.

Well, it¡¯s been sorta nice knowing you guys.