The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) marked March 2022 as one of the warmest months ever recorded in the previous 143 years. January was the sixth warmest month on Earth, and February followed as the seventh warmest. The year’s ranking thus far is the fifth warmest since 1880.
Earlier this month, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change a panel of experts was summoned by the United Nations. The U.N. warned that unless drastic action is taken in the next few years to curtail global emissions of coal, oil, and natural gases, the goal of cutting to limit global warming by 1.5 degrees Celius or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit it will be nearly impossible to reach by the end of the decade.
Due to human actions, Earth’s climate has already increased 1.1 degrees Celsius since the 1800s. This increase has led to more critical conditions of droughts, wildfires, flooding, and the fall of entire ecosystems.
“This is a climate emergency, governments and corporations are not just turning a blind eye, they are adding fuel to the flames. They are choking our planet, based on their vested interests and historic investments in fossil fuels, when cheaper, renewable solutions provide green jobs, energy security, and greater price stability.” according to The United States Secretary-General António Guterres.
These exacerbated weather events uprooted more people in 2019 — 13 million individuals in continents such as Africa and Asia. Large swaths of crops and plant life are affected by increasing temperatures which has increased food insecurity. The risk of disease being spread through mosquitos merely compounded the issue.
Hundreds of people across nations such as the United States, Canada, China, Germany, and China have died. “One of the most striking conclusions in our report is that we’re seeing adverse impacts that are much more widespread and much more negative than expected,” said Camille Parmesan one of the researchers and ecologists at the University of Texas, Austin.
Nations have placed certain limitations on the harm of climate change by investing billions of dollars but ultimately have been incremental. The majority of these measures mainly focus on the future ramifications of climate disasters. Ultimately this report places a dire warning of the consequences of shifting the goalpost.
Various places around the world will not have the capability to adapt to these changes in an ever-changing environment. If nations do not take measures to reduce emissions of fossil fuels to stop global warming, people will face enviable losses and have to flee from their homes, dislocating various people globally. Marine biologist Hans-Otto Pörtner in Germany said, “There has been the assumption that, ‘Well, if we cannot control climate change, we’ll just let it go and adapt to it, this is certainly a very illusionary approach.”
Written by Skye Leon
Edited by Cathy Milne-Ware
Sources:
NOAA: March 2022, year to date rank as Earth’s 5th warmest
NOAA: February 2022 was Earth’s 7th warmest on record
NOAA: U.S. saw its coolest, driest January in 8 years
NOAA: January 2022 was Earth’s 6th warmest on record
The New York Times: Stopping Climate Change Is Doable, but Time Is Short, U.N. Panel Warns; By Brad Plumer and Raymond Zhong
The New York Times: Climate Change Is Harming the Planet Faster Than We Can Adapt, U.N. Warns; By Brad Plumer and Raymond Zhong
Featured and Top Image Courtesy of Antoine Collet’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Inset Image Courtesy of Filipe Barreto’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
