The UN climate change summit starts Sunday in Scotland. The climate summit has been described as the world's last chance to avert major climate catastrophes.
The United Nations released a scientific report on looming environmental issues. The report has been described as a “thundering wake-up call.”
“All countries need to realize the old carbon burning model is a death sentence for their economies and for all planets," said António Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
Existing pledges will only reduce emissions by 7.5%. If that happens, temperatures will rise by 2.7 degrees Celcius and trigger a climate catastrophe. To avert that, the world needs to cut emissions by 55%, that’s 7 times more than currently pledged and the world has to make those cuts by 2030.
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"The clock is ticking, but world leaders can still make this a turning point to a better future instead of a tipping point to climate catastrophe," Guterres said.
Potential climate problems are not just the continued warming of the earth, but continued weather extremes. Just like we saw with the recent rain and snowstorms in Northern California. A category 5 atmospheric river broke a record of 212 straight days without rain in Sacramento and broke Sacramento’s single-day record for rainfall. In Tahoe, the region is just 2 inches shy of the record for most snow in October.
These weather extremes, hot to cold, dry to wet, drought to atmospheric rivers will only increase as the earth’s temperatures increase, hopefully, the upcoming climate summit will help spread the message the time to act is now.
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But there is hope…some countries have pledged a net-zero emissions target for 2050. But basically, it's up to you, me, and all of us to change our ways and heal the earth little steps at a time.
