The world is not prepared for the climatic future that scientists have warned about for decades, and the floods, droughts, wildfires, and extreme heat that have been sweeping the planet are a taste of it.
Extreme weather is testing the resilience of even a wealthy nation like the United States in the face of warming that has arrived quicker than many scientists predicted, as seen by a federal disaster fund that is nearly empty and state insurance markets that are buckling under the weight of several calamities. The Canadian wildfire smoke that has repeatedly blanketed D.C. and other parts of the U.S. in recent weeks is another example, as are the torrential rains flooding Northeastern states like Vermont, the shrinking Colorado River that has prompted a multistate brawl over dividing the water, the record temperatures that have raised worries about the stability of the electric grid, and so on.
The height of the Atlantic hurricane season is still to come in the months of August and September, when ocean temperatures will be what European experts have termed “off the charts.”
Scientists predict that future dangers to people, places, and things will be far more severe.
According to Princeton University climate scientist Michael Oppenheimer, “if you don’t like what you’re seeing today, stick around — it’s going to get worse before it gets better.”
A $369 billion climate package passed last year aims to reduce U.S. climate pollution, though doing so will take decades, and the 2021 infrastructure law allocates more than $50 billion to dealing with and limiting damage from climate disasters.
It’s not apparent if those actions will produce results quickly enough to avert or survive the worst effects of climate change. Even so, Republicans are planning to make removing his flagship climate law a central part of their message to voters in 2024, so his goal is already facing political opposition. But Vice President Joe Biden has promised to protect the climate gains the government has made.
The president warned this week in Vilnius, Lithuania, that “we don’t have a lot of time” to address climate change, which he called “the single greatest threat to humanity.”
Meanwhile, more and more landmarks fall.
Temperatures around the world reached their highest point since the last interglacial period 125,000 years ago last week, breaking the record set 143 years ago.
As a result, some scientists predict that this year will break the record high temperature established just seven years ago. The already weak chances of the United States and more than 190 other countries attaining the temperature targets agreed to in the 2015 Paris climate agreement are further jeopardised.
Global average temperatures in June were 1.47 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels, according to climate research firm Berkeley Earth’s report released on Tuesday. This is just a hair below the 1.5 degree Celsius limit set as a stretch objective in the Paris climate agreement. Many small island nations are threatened by increasing sea levels, and scientists warn that failing to meet this aim could be catastrophic for them.
According to the World Meteorological Organisation, the average yearly global temperature has a 66% chance of rising by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius between now and 2027.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world has warmed by 1.2 degrees Celsius since the beginning of the industrial revolution. Carbon dioxide, a gas that traps heat in the atmosphere, is at levels not seen in over 3 million years, according to federal scientists.
While climate pollution in the United States and Europe is decreasing, these reductions are not sufficient to counteract increases in other countries, most notably China and other midsize economies.
There is just no way that we can prevent a temperature rise of 1.5 degrees. Oppenheimer argued that it was an impossible journey. It’s clear that “we’re not getting our act together fast enough to avoid it at this point.”
The current climate disasters, which include higher temperatures, stronger cyclones, deeper droughts, and longer-lasting wildfires, are, for the most part, in line with predictions. However, the rapidity of their entrance has surprised many specialists.
University of Arizona climate scientist Kathy Jacobs, who oversaw the Obama administration’s National Climate Assessment, a comprehensive review of climate science by federal agencies, said, “I think even the most seasoned climate scientists are pretty surprised about that.”
