Climate change is hitting the planet faster than scientists originally thought

[Celerity]

Latest IPCC climate report warns that rising greenhouse-gas emissions could soon outstrip the ability of many communities to adapt.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00585-7



The negative impacts of climate change are mounting far faster than scientists predicted less than a decade ago, according to the latest report from a United Nations climate panel. Many impacts are unavoidable and will hit the world’s most vulnerable populations hardest, it warns — but collective action from governments to both curb greenhouse-gas emissions and to prepare communities to live with global warming could yet avert the worst outcomes.

“The cumulative scientific evidence is unequivocal,” says Maarten van Aalst, a climate scientist who heads the Red Cross Red Crescent’s Climate Centre in Enschede, the Netherlands, and an author on the report. “Any further delay in global action on adaptation and mitigation will miss a brief and rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a livable and sustainable future for all.”

The report, released on 28 February, is the second installment of the latest climate assessment from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Issued last August, the IPCC’s first report focused on recent climate science, while this report focuses on the impacts of climate change on people and ecosystems. It will be followed by a third installment in early April that evaluates humanity’s options for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. This is the sixth such assessment from the IPCC in three decades, and the warnings have only become more dire. Advocates hope this latest assessment will finally spur governments to decisively tackle the climate crisis.

“I've seen many scientific reports in my time, but nothing like this,” UN secretary-general António Guterres said during a press conference unveiling the report. It is a “damning indictment of failed climate leadership”, he added.

snip

[malaise]

1. Ask the folks in Queensland, Australia

https://news.sky.com/video/flooding-in-parts-of-australia-as-queensland-hit-with-rain-bomb-and-severe-storms-12553946


Flooding in parts of Australia as Queensland hit with 'rain bomb' and severe storms
A severe storm system pummelled Australia's northeastern city of Brisbane and caused evacuations, power outages and school closures. Several people have died in the accompanying flash floods.
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Heard that one river rose 47ft above normal level

[WarGamer]

2. The reality is... climate change is here and irreversible.

Mankind needs to put down their primeval urges and work together as a species.

This can't be fixed by Teslas, wind power or solar panels... we need to ADAPT and SURVIVE.

[Spider Jerusalem]

3. You can thank the USA going all in on fracking for that

methane is a significantly more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, albeit shorter-lived; most of the "sooner than expected" is from the release of methane over the past 15 years or so.