Do good talk about it.
Climate change
We need less empty talk and more commitment to tackling climate change which is driving these dangerous fire conditions.
According to global climate change, The Earth's average temperature has increased about 2 degrees Fahrenheit during the 20th century.
What's the big deal?
Two degrees may sound like a small amount, but it's an unusual event in our planet's recent history. Earth's climate record, preserved in tree rings, ice cores, and coral reefs, shows that the global average temperature is stable over long periods of time. Furthermore, small changes in temperature correspond to enormous changes in the environment.
For example, at the end of the last ice age, when the Northeast United States was covered by more than 3,000 feet of ice, average temperatures were only 5 to 9 degrees cooler than today.
According to the IPCC, the extent of climate change effects on individual regions will vary over time and with the ability of different societal and environmental systems to mitigate or adapt to change.
The IPCC predicts that increases in global mean temperature of less than 1.8 to 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit (1 to 3 degrees Celsius) above 1990 levels will produce beneficial impacts in some regions and harmful ones in others. Net annual costs will increase over time as global temperatures increase.
It is up to the younger generations – Generation Change – from demand to creation, to ensure long-term success with their manpower.
Accelerated climate solutions can strengthen the world economies and create jobs, while bringing cleaner air, preserving natural habitats and biodiversity, and protect the whole environment.
Global climate change has already had observable effects on the environment. Glaciers have shrunk, ice on rivers and lakes is breaking up earlier, plant and animal ranges have shifted and trees are flowering sooner.
Effects that scientists had predicted in the past would result from global climate change are now occurring: loss of sea ice, accelerated sea level rise and longer, more intense heat waves.
"Reuters" reports that the latest weather forecasts show “no substantial rains for at least three months, providing grim news as firefighters battle to get more than 100 bushfires raging across the east coast under control”.
A“news analysis” piece in the New York Times looks at why “climate change is Australia’s labyrinth without an exit, where its pragmatism disappears”.
You might ask though if CO2 emissions harm those of future generations, then why would we give the money collected to people today?
We should save some for those affected in the future, but it seems strange to create a sort of “Apologies for Polluting” savings account. A smarter way to achieve a similar effect would be to invest in technologies that reduce emissions or capture carbon. With an estimated yearly collection of $230B (using $720 per person), the remaining unreturned money ($70B) could have a pretty substantial impact on the acceleration of these technologies, thus minimizing the damages imparted on future generations.
A major new study warns that a child born today faces multiple and life-long health harms from climate change.
Climate change exposes future generations to life-long health harm.
Climate action is essential to combat an existential threat, it comes with costs. So action plans must not create winners and losers or add to economic inequality; they must be fair and create new opportunities for those negatively impacted, in the context of a just transition.
New technologies and engineering solutions are already delivering energy at a lower cost than the fossil-fuel driven economy. Solar and onshore wind are now the cheapest sources of new bulk power in virtually all major economies.
The 2019 Lancet Countdown On Health And Climate Change report finds that “climate change is already harming people’s health by increasing the number of extreme weather events and exacerbating air pollution”, says the newswire, “and if nothing is done to mitigate it, its impacts could burden an entire generation with disease and illness throughout their lives”. Children are “particularly vulnerable to the health risks of a changing climate”, lead author Dr Nick Watts tells Reuters. “Their bodies and immune systems are still developing, leaving them more susceptible to disease and environmental pollutants.” The report from 35 global institutions examines 41 indicators up to the present day across areas including the impacts of rising temperatures, resilience and economics, says the Press Association. "Reuters Report"
Future Effects
“Wildfires not only cause deaths and health damage but had significant economic and social impacts.” The study finds that a “warming planet will exacerbate deadly air pollution across the world and kill tens of millions more people over the next decade”, "Report of the Financial Times".
Droughts in the Southwest and heat waves (periods of abnormally hot weather lasting days to weeks) everywhere are projected to become more intense, and cold waves less intense everywhere. By the end of this century, what have been once-in-20-year extreme heat days (one-day events) are projected to occur every two or three years over most of the nation.
Summer temperatures are projected to continue rising, and a reduction of soil moisture, which exacerbates heat waves, is projected for much of the western and central U.S. in summer.
Global sea level has risen by about 8 inches since reliable record keeping began in 1880. It is projected to rise another 1 to 8 feet by 2100. Sea level rise will continue past 2100 because the oceans take a very long time to respond to warmer conditions at the Earth’s surface.
Hurricanes Will Become Stronger and More Intense. The relative contributions of human and natural causes to these increases are still uncertain. Hurricane-associated storm intensity and rainfall rates are projected to increase as the climate continues to warm.
In a future in which heat-trapping gas emissions continue to grow, increases of a month or more in the lengths of the frost-free and growing seasons are projected across most of the U.S. by the end of the century, with slightly smaller increases in the northern Great Plains. The largest increases in the frost-free season (more than eight weeks) are projected for the western U.S., particularly in high elevation and coastal areas.
It’s really a challenge and if we together adapt it will certainly resolve it. We need to deepen understanding of science.
1) What is meant by heat content in reality, which we don’t know yet, use it to convert into useful energy.
2) Breakthroughs in renewable energy.
Dangerous climatechange is now upon us and it’s simply a matter at this point of how bad we’re willing to let it get. We’ve looked into the abyss. Finally, a global pandemic has awakened us to the fragility of our existence on this planet while demonstrating that we can change.
@Angelsiblani
