Post by Andrei Tchentchik on Feb 5, 2019 11:52:25 GMT 2
(.#A.001).- A clock sounds the alarm on global warming.
A clock sounds the alarm on global warming.
Report for 2018
Daniel Blanchette Pelletier
At the current rate, the planet will warm up to 1.5 degrees Celsius in less than 16 years, according to the projections of the climate clock. It is a year and a half later than previously estimated.
A text by Daniel Blanchette Pelletier
"The idea of the clock is to show clearly how much time we have before we reach the climate targets we think are dangerous," says its designer Damon Matthews.
The Concordia University Research Chair in Climatology and Sustainability developed this visualization tool at the suggestion of singer David Usher, founder of the Human Impact Lab. "He felt that this time factor was missing in the conversation around climate change," says the professor.
Reaching 1.5 degrees Celsius in 16 years is based on three sets of data:
• global emissions of greenhouse gases in 2018;
• the magnitude of the temperature change caused by these emissions;
• The carbon budget, the amount of CO2 that humanity is still allowed to release into the atmosphere.
The consequences of an overall temperature rise of 1.5 degrees Celsius are very real, from the multiplication of extreme weather events, to the rise in sea level and the decline of the sea ice.
It's not going to happen [so quickly]. It depends on what we do. If you act harder than now [against global warming], you can add time to the clock.
Damon Matthews, Concordia University
But we must act now, and forever, he hastens to add.
New deadline
Despite a 2.7% increase in global CO2 emissions in 2018, humanity has a little more time than expected to contain global warming.
The increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius was previously to be achieved in 14 years. However, according to the update of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the climate situation pushes back to 2034 the date on which this marker will be reached.
This is both good and bad news, according to Damon Matthews. "We are going in the wrong direction," he said, noting that without an increase in emissions, the 1.5 degrees would have been pushed back to more than 16 years.
Greenhouse gas emissions had begun to stabilize over the past decade, the climate expert said. The start of 2018 shows, according to him, the importance of continuing to take action to reduce them.
"And we have to continue until we reach zero emissions. That's the challenge, "says Damon Matthews.
An awareness tool
Representing in a visual way the short time remaining to act, the challenge is real and urgent, in addition to challenging the population, the climate clock team believes.
Professor Damon Matthews invites each and every one of us to reduce his ecological footprint to add time to the clock, by taking less frequently the car and the plane, for example.
It also welcomes the ecological "Transition Pact", a Quebec initiative endorsed by more than 240,000 signatories. But the most important, according to him, is to act with governments to bring about real change.
The projection of the climate clock coincides with the holding of the 24th United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP24), which brings together in Poland representatives of 195 countries committed to fight together against global warming.
Climate change: State of play
The time of the climatic balance arrives for the year 2018 and the news is far from encouraging.
Despite efforts to reduce the environmental impact of human activity, the situation is worse than ever.
It's hot !
Despite the doubts raised by climate-septic, it is getting hotter. 2018 is expected to be the fourth hottest year since records began in 1880. The last 4 years are the hottest ever recorded. This summer Europe, the American West and Asia have been hit by heat waves. Record temperatures were recorded in Portugal, Scandinavia, South Korea, Japan and Algeria.
More and more gas
In 2017, the concentrations of the three major greenhouse gases (GHGs) reached new heights in 2017. And the trend continues in 2018. The last time the Earth experienced such a concentration of CO2, it was there 5 million years ago. The temperature was then 2 to 3 degrees Celsius higher than today. and the sea level was 10 to 20 meters higher. Methane is at a level equivalent to 257% of that recorded before the industrial revolution.
The oceans rise, rise, ascend.
Sea levels increased 25% to 30% faster between 2004 and 2015, compared to 1993-2004. On average, the oceans rose 20cm during the 20th century. So 2mm a year. Today, the level rises by about 3.3mm per year and the phenomenon seems to accelerate. Before 2012, Antarctica was losing 76 billion tonnes per year. Since 2012, it's 219 billion tonnes of ice a year. In the most optimistic of the current scenarios, the level of the seas would increase from 26 to 77cm by 2100.
Without forgetting…
Global warming favors extreme events, especially droughts and heatwaves. As of 20 November 2018, the World Meteorological Organization recorded 70 tropical cyclones by 2018. The historical annual average is 53. Compared with 1990, there would be twice as many droughts, fires, floods and hurricanes related to climate change. Losses from natural disasters amount to US $ 520 billion a year. They push 26 million people into poverty every year. About 20% of threatened or near-threatened species are affected. And the coral reefs undergo massive bleaching and record mortality.
F I N .
A clock sounds the alarm on global warming.
Report for 2018
Daniel Blanchette Pelletier
At the current rate, the planet will warm up to 1.5 degrees Celsius in less than 16 years, according to the projections of the climate clock. It is a year and a half later than previously estimated.
A text by Daniel Blanchette Pelletier
"The idea of the clock is to show clearly how much time we have before we reach the climate targets we think are dangerous," says its designer Damon Matthews.
The Concordia University Research Chair in Climatology and Sustainability developed this visualization tool at the suggestion of singer David Usher, founder of the Human Impact Lab. "He felt that this time factor was missing in the conversation around climate change," says the professor.
Reaching 1.5 degrees Celsius in 16 years is based on three sets of data:
• global emissions of greenhouse gases in 2018;
• the magnitude of the temperature change caused by these emissions;
• The carbon budget, the amount of CO2 that humanity is still allowed to release into the atmosphere.
The consequences of an overall temperature rise of 1.5 degrees Celsius are very real, from the multiplication of extreme weather events, to the rise in sea level and the decline of the sea ice.
It's not going to happen [so quickly]. It depends on what we do. If you act harder than now [against global warming], you can add time to the clock.
Damon Matthews, Concordia University
But we must act now, and forever, he hastens to add.
New deadline
Despite a 2.7% increase in global CO2 emissions in 2018, humanity has a little more time than expected to contain global warming.
The increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius was previously to be achieved in 14 years. However, according to the update of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the climate situation pushes back to 2034 the date on which this marker will be reached.
This is both good and bad news, according to Damon Matthews. "We are going in the wrong direction," he said, noting that without an increase in emissions, the 1.5 degrees would have been pushed back to more than 16 years.
Greenhouse gas emissions had begun to stabilize over the past decade, the climate expert said. The start of 2018 shows, according to him, the importance of continuing to take action to reduce them.
"And we have to continue until we reach zero emissions. That's the challenge, "says Damon Matthews.
An awareness tool
Representing in a visual way the short time remaining to act, the challenge is real and urgent, in addition to challenging the population, the climate clock team believes.
Professor Damon Matthews invites each and every one of us to reduce his ecological footprint to add time to the clock, by taking less frequently the car and the plane, for example.
It also welcomes the ecological "Transition Pact", a Quebec initiative endorsed by more than 240,000 signatories. But the most important, according to him, is to act with governments to bring about real change.
The projection of the climate clock coincides with the holding of the 24th United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP24), which brings together in Poland representatives of 195 countries committed to fight together against global warming.
Climate change: State of play
The time of the climatic balance arrives for the year 2018 and the news is far from encouraging.
Despite efforts to reduce the environmental impact of human activity, the situation is worse than ever.
It's hot !
Despite the doubts raised by climate-septic, it is getting hotter. 2018 is expected to be the fourth hottest year since records began in 1880. The last 4 years are the hottest ever recorded. This summer Europe, the American West and Asia have been hit by heat waves. Record temperatures were recorded in Portugal, Scandinavia, South Korea, Japan and Algeria.
More and more gas
In 2017, the concentrations of the three major greenhouse gases (GHGs) reached new heights in 2017. And the trend continues in 2018. The last time the Earth experienced such a concentration of CO2, it was there 5 million years ago. The temperature was then 2 to 3 degrees Celsius higher than today. and the sea level was 10 to 20 meters higher. Methane is at a level equivalent to 257% of that recorded before the industrial revolution.
The oceans rise, rise, ascend.
Sea levels increased 25% to 30% faster between 2004 and 2015, compared to 1993-2004. On average, the oceans rose 20cm during the 20th century. So 2mm a year. Today, the level rises by about 3.3mm per year and the phenomenon seems to accelerate. Before 2012, Antarctica was losing 76 billion tonnes per year. Since 2012, it's 219 billion tonnes of ice a year. In the most optimistic of the current scenarios, the level of the seas would increase from 26 to 77cm by 2100.
Without forgetting…
Global warming favors extreme events, especially droughts and heatwaves. As of 20 November 2018, the World Meteorological Organization recorded 70 tropical cyclones by 2018. The historical annual average is 53. Compared with 1990, there would be twice as many droughts, fires, floods and hurricanes related to climate change. Losses from natural disasters amount to US $ 520 billion a year. They push 26 million people into poverty every year. About 20% of threatened or near-threatened species are affected. And the coral reefs undergo massive bleaching and record mortality.
F I N .
