<
https://medium.com/@absurdistan/african-solutions-to-global-problems-cba924bbd3ce>
"Last week, the world was warned that it is on track to cross a crucial
threshold. While the Paris Agreement recognized the need to limit global
temperature rise since the Industrial Revolution to 2°C, it “aimed” for 1.5°.
Given the world’s failure to doing anything meaningful to stop pumping
greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere, we are likely to pass this target by
2027. The consequences will be stark.
At less than 1.5°C warming, we have already witnessed year after year of the
warmest temperatures on record. The glaciers are still melting, sea levels are
rising, destructive storms are occurring more frequently and more intensely,
diseases are spreading, and people are suffering. Thus, this is dire news. At
2°C, we may expect more of the same—just even worse. At that point, we will see
entire countries disappear. As scientists have said again and again, every
fraction of a degree matters.
At this stage, we have no choice but to adapt. The easiest way to do this would
be to simply stop pumping greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. This, however,
is not enough for at least two reasons. First, politicians are still approving
new oil and gas ventures. Some of them, such as those approved under the Biden
Administration, are considered “carbon bombs” and by themselves enough to tank
efforts to limit global temperatures to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
Second, the effects of pumping greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere are
cumulative and it may take decades before we fully feel the consequences of gas
pumped into the atmosphere from previous years. The gasses we pump into the
atmosphere today, which have been record-breaking, will not manifest themselves
as deadly and misery-inducing heatwaves and plagues until years later. In other
words, we’ve locked ourselves in and very often at a rate much faster than
we’ve expected.
While there is much justification for alarm and panic, there is always room for
hope. One reason to hope is simply because humans are adaptable and resilient.
But this is also speaking on a collective level. For every member of our
species proven able to adapt and withstand the effects of famine, pandemics or
storms, many other cannot or will not. Still, new understandings of our flora
and fauna offer natural solutions to live sustainably yet comfortably, buoyed
by technological advances as well."
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
