I don’t normally diary more than once a day — in fact, I tend to go months without posting anything here — but this just showed up in my Twitter feed (@KiraOnClimate) and I was shocked. No, really: SHOCKED.
BBC News is reporting that:
It's becoming more likely that a key global temperature limit will be reached in one of the next five years.
A major study says by 2025 there's a 40% chance of at least one year being 1.5C hotter than the pre-industrial level.
That's the lower of two temperature limits set by the Paris Agreement on climate change.
I will be watching the MSM and cable news in the United States over the next week, to see if someone — anyone — picks up on this story.
The BBC reporting continues:
"A single year hitting 1.5C therefore doesn't mean the Paris limits are breached, but is nevertheless very bad news.
"It tells us once again that climate action to date is wholly insufficient and emissions need to be reduced urgently to zero to halt global warming."
WE ARE RUNNING OUT OF TIME.
Where is the urgency? Where are the people in the streets? Where’s the “occupy Congress” movement demanding far more action from the Biden administration? Where are the massive boycotts of car makers and fast fashion companies and other emissions-producing sectors of industry? Where are the people who could easily just stop eating meat and dairy?
It’s mind boggling. Are we really going to just blow past 1.5C and call it good? Are we not going to hurl our bodies on the baricades?
Maybe we are.
Place to start taking action:
School Strike for Climate (Fridays for Future) is calling for a global strike on September 24:
Climate Generation
Common Cause’s “find your representative” tool
350.org
Extinction Rebellion
Oxfam
Thanks for reading. I feel like a total and irritating nag, and I know that the folks on this site have their hearts in the right place.
Kira Thomsen-Cheek
@KiraOnClimate