Climate Change is at a Critical Point
Opinion Advocates for ideas and draws conclusions based on the author/producer’s interpretation of facts and data.
The report released Monday from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) found that the world is likely to surpass limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial temperatures — by the early 2030s. Scientists have found that beyond that threshold climate disasters will become so extreme that people will be unable to adapt. Basic components of the Earth’s system will be fundamentally, irrevocably altered. Heat waves, famines and infectious diseases, not to mention intensified hurricanes, floods and typhoons could claim millions of additional lives by century’s end.
Despite these dire warnings, global emissions continue to rise. But we’re not without viable solutions. The world has all the knowledge, tools and financial resources needed to achieve its climate goals and this starts with New York State making good on its climate policies. Gov. Hochul, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins MUST include the All-Electric Building Act and NY Heat Act in the state budget.
Because unless governments adopt new environmental policies — and follow through on the ones already in place — global average temperatures could warm by 5.8 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century. In that scenario, a child born today would live to see several feet of sea level rise, the extinction of hundreds of species and the migration of millions of people from places where they can no longer survive. It’s now a matter of life or death.
Christine Arroyo
Carmel, NY
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