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https://theconversation.com/climate-crisis-even-temporarily-overshooting-2-c-would-cause-permanent-damage-to-earths-species-185929>
"The history of climate change is one of people slowly coming to terms with the
truth. None but a small minority still question whether it’s real and caused by
humans. Now most grapple with the reality of trying to slow down catastrophic
warming, and the difference between solutions and false hope. The concept of
climate overshoot is the next thing we will need to get to grips with.
Unless urgent action is taken, emissions are expected to cause the planet to
continue heating rapidly over the next few decades, prompting the global
average temperature to overshoot the Paris agreement’s target, which aimed to
limit warming to between 1.5°C and 2°C. A period of higher temperatures will
occur in the middle of this century as a result. Then, the idea goes, new but
yet unproven technologies and techniques for pulling greenhouse gases from the
atmosphere will eventually bring temperatures back down to a safer level.
Until now, scientists were unsure what temporarily overshooting (and then
boomeranging back below) the Paris agreement’s temperature target would entail
for nature. So, for the first time, we studied the consequences of allowing
Earth’s temperature to exceed these precautionary limits, then fall below them
again, for marine and land-based life. In other words, we looked at how
damaging the journey of overshooting the 2°C temperature target would be, and
not just the destination itself.
The results suggest that a temporary overshoot would cause waves of
irreversible extinctions and lasting damage to tens of thousands of species.
This is what the world can expect if humanity fails to make deep emission cuts
this decade, and relies instead on future technologies to remove emissions
later."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
