New UN report says the planet is likely to pass 1.5°C for the first time. What does that mean?
Scientists last week predicted that our already warming world will likely pass a key temperature threshold for the first time over the next five years. I’m not a climate scientist but I know enough to know this is not good…for any of us!
The new UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) report announced that the Earth will likely breach the 1.5°C temperature goal that countries aim to limit under the Paris agreement.The scientists emphasized that this spike in temperature will be temporary and is reversible, provided rapid emissions cuts can be made quickly.
So why is this happening? Scientists say that a returning El Niño coupled with already warming temperatures due to human-induced climate change will likely cause a preview of what an irreversible 1.5°C world would look like.
As The New York Times has reported, scientists have found that “every fraction of a degree of additional warming could mean tens of millions more people worldwide exposed to life-threatening heat waves, water shortages and coastal flooding.” Even today’s temperature rise (1.2°C) is driving record heat waves, devastating fires, crop killing droughts, deadly flooding, and displacement due to sea level rise. These events cause terrible human suffering and economic disturbance, disproportionately affecting people of color, those in poverty, and women and girls — who are the most negatively impacted by the climate crisis.
Three children sitting on the ground studying, and a boat loaded with people and goods passes by on high tidal waters in Gabura Upazila, Bangladesh. The community faces uncertainty as the school is under threat of being washed away due to the increasing erosion by the Kholpetua river. Credit: Moniruzzaman Sazal / Climate Visuals
No surprise then that women and youth leaders are the ones speaking up and demanding a big shift in the policies that are propelling us to a catastrophic future. We already have all the solutions we need. What is lacking in most places is the political and economic will and the public pressure needed to activate these necessary changes…and urgently. We are in a race against time to reduce emissions to prevent a permanent 1.5°C world.
All of us know and love someone who will be alive in 2030, including most of you and hopefully, me too. Reason enough to pay attention, don’t you think?
I’m using this platform this week to remind us of what’s at stake and what we can do.
This December, governments will meet for the COP28 UN climate summit, where world leaders will assess progress towards meeting the goals of the Paris agreement. It will be a critical meeting that COP organizers are calling the “global stocktake,” in which countries will assess how well they have done — or not done — in meeting their Paris Agreement goals.
I believe it’s time, as citizens of the world, to do our own personal climate ‘stocktake’ and consider how we might make this climate emergency more personal in our lives and our work.
We can begin by understanding better what can be done, talking and writing about what is happening, and speaking up to those who have the power to make the policies and changes necessary to avoid a permanent 1.5°C rise world.
For starters: We need to end oil and gas subsidies and shift investments to clean energy solutions; to pay attention to what’s happening to our oceans and wildlife and natural resources, and support those who are working to reverse the biodiversity losses; to listen and learn from scientists, frontline activists and Indigenous peoples; to repair and restore the devastations already felt in the world’s most vulnerable communities; and to stop listening to the misinformation intended to confuse us…messaging and advertising that the oil and gas industry spent $3.6 billion creating this year – a communications campaign designed to keep us confused and therefore, silent and on the sidelines in what truly is the biggest challenge of our lifetimes.
No matter what your priority issue is — for example, mine has been advocating and activating to end gender-based violence and work towards true gender and racial equality and more equitable opportunities — we must all shift to focus on repairing and saving our climate.
We cannot have a just and equal society anywhere if we don’t have a climate-safe world everywhere.
This is everyone’s challenge. We have already made so much progress, we just need to move a lot faster.
Onward!
- Pat