The latest report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the loudest shout to come from the scientific community about the urgency to do something about global warming. Yet less than a week later, it’s barely talked about.
The 116-page report is a synthesis of the last four reports - intended to act as a summary of where we are - leading up to the next big UN climate summit in Paris next year. Normally, the wording of these reports has been somewhat cautionary, using phrases such as, “very likely,” or “strong evidence,” when referring to changes taking place in the Earth’s atmosphere since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.
Not this time.
The message from the scientists is now clear. Fossil fuels must be gone by 2100 or we will pass a tipping point into a future calamity.....
Of course, the reason governments are slow to react to the warning about climate change is because of the perception that adapting our technology away from fossil fuels would break the economy.
....So, what will appeal to our common sense and drive us to do something about climate change?
Unless a UFO lands on Parliament Hill, the strongest warning is coming from nature; more droughts in some parts of the world, more extreme weather events in others, island countries consumed by rising sea levels, water shortages ... the list is growing.
The most important part of the message from this IPCC report is that doing nothing will cost much more than taking action now. That’s an economic argument.
Let common sense prevail.
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