Page 20 - Sonoma County Gazette November 2018

Time’s running out folks!
The recent report from the IPCC (the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) is ominous. It essentially says we have just 12 years to get our act together and really lower our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions if we want to have any kind of a life on this planet. Whew! The goal of keeping global warming to 2o Celsius (that’s 3.6o Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, set in Paris in 2015, was one nearly everyone agreed wasn’t sufficient, but it was the goal they could agree on.
Now the 100 scientists on the IPCC say that even the goal adopted as an aspiration in Paris—1.5oC (2.7 oF)—is too high (we’ve already reached 1 to 1.2oC above pre-industrial levels). Go to ipcc.ch/report/sr15/ for the full report.
To stay at or below the 1.5o goal, the report makes it clear that we must take swift action—right now—and it must go deep, involving all sectors—energy, agriculture, and transportation. It can’t be overstressed how urgent this is.
Currently, despite all the pledges made in Paris and howquickly renewable energy’s being adopted, we’re on course for warming 3oC ( 5.4oF) above pre- industrial levels. “Catastrophic” doesn’t begin to say how bad it will be.
Dealing with these goals is harder now. I
t doesn’t help that the US—with less than 5% of the world’s population but almost 15% of global GHG emissions—has given notice that it will back out of the Paris accords in 2020. Meanwhile Brazil, the 7th largest producer of GHC emissions, will probably elect a new president who will also withdraw from them. For 20 years, Brazil’s been the largest country leading in addressing climate change. Since 2004 Brazil’s made dramatic reductions in GHG emissions, but the almost certain election of Jair Bolsonaro threatens all that.
It’s going to be really hard.
With these two countries opting out of the Paris accords, a recent op-ed in the New York Times says, “Solving climate is going to be harder, and more improbable, than winning World War II, achieving civil rights, defeating
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