Written by by Eric Worrall at wattsupwiththat.com
Should we nominate a special day – crying climate scientist day?
‘The stakes could not be higher’: world is on edge of climate abyss, UN warns
Damian Carrington Environment editorFri 10 May 2024 00.00 AEST
The world is on the verge of a climate abyss, the UN has warned, in response to a Guardian survey that found that hundreds of the world’s foremost climate experts expect global heating to soar past the international target of 1.5C.
A series of leading climate figures have reacted to the findings, saying the deep despair voiced by the scientists must be a renewed wake-up call for urgent and radical action to stop burning fossil fuels and save millions of lives and livelihoods. Some said the 1.5C target was hanging by a thread, but it was not yet inevitable that it would be passed, if an extraordinary change in the pace of climate action could be achieved.
The Guardian got the views of almost 400 senior authors of reports by the authoritative Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Almost 80% expected a rise of at least 2.5C above preindustrial levels, a catastrophic level of heating, while only 6% thought it would stay within the 1.5C limit. Many expressed their personal anguish at the lack of climate action.
“The goal of limiting global warming to 1.5C is hanging by a thread,” said the official spokesperson for António Guterres, the UN secretary general. “The battle to keep 1.5C alive will be won or lost in the 2020s – under the watch of political and industry leaders today. They need to realise we are on the verge of the abyss. The science is clear and so are the world’s scientists: the stakes for all humanity could not be higher.”
I clicked the link to the personal reactions link, see if there was anything interesting. I didn’t bother reading all of it, because most of it seemed to be the usual rehashed tedium. They’re all sad and depressed because we are not doing what the scientists tell us to do. Not one word about nuclear energy, the zero carbon energy source which actually works. From what the Guardian wrote they want us to embrace climate communism (restricted choices, social change) and renewables.
I tried finding the UN source of the climate abyss comment, but all I saw were previous UN “climate abyss” warnings. Or maybe it’s the same warning, but the abyss is still really close but at the same time many years away.
World on the verge of climate ‘abyss’, as temperature rise continues: UN chief
19 April 2021 Climate and Environment
The Earth’s temperature continues to rise unabated, with 2020 being one of the three warmest years on record, as extreme weather events combine with the COVID-19 pandemic, impacting millions.
According to the World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) flagship State of the Global Climate report, the global average temperature in 2020 was about 1.2-degree Celsius above pre-industrial level.