Passing 1.5C Global Warming is Now an “Opportunity” Professor William D Solecki. Source CUNY. Fair Use, Low Resolution Image to Identify the Subject.
Essay by Eric Worrall You naughty proletariat, instead of spanking you for failing to reign in your emissions, we’re going to give you another chance to behave.
Professor William D Solecki. Source CUNY. Fair Use, Low Resolution Image to Identify the Subject.
CLIMATE COMMUNICATIONSCLIMATE UGLINESSOPINION
Passing 1.5C Global Warming is Now an “Opportunity”
Essay by Eric Worrall
You naughty proletariat, instead of spanking you for failing to reign in your emissions, we’re going to give you another chance to behave.
Earth 2.0°C: How to Make Passing the 1.5°C Climate Change Threshold An Opportunity
JANUARY 22, 2024 11:06 AM EST
Solecki is a professor of geography at Hunter College, City University of New York. He was an author of the 1.5°C Special Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, released in 2018.
Addressing the climate crisis will be difficult and demand focused attention and action. It is not a problem that will go away, and in fact a lot of new evidence shows that the world is heating and changing faster, weather-wise, than we expected just a few years ago. Many highly vulnerable populations and ecosystems already are facing the devastating impacts of climate change. While the COP28 meeting in Dubai late last year provided some glimmers of hope that the world’s countries can meaningfully respond to climate change, it is increasingly clear that the rise in global temperature will exceed the 1.5°C (2.7°F) threshold first defined as part of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. Currently the earth has experienced approximately 1.15°C of heating above the 19th century baseline and will likely pass the 1.5°C level globally in the mid-2030s. The window of opportunity to forestall this event is about to close, as significant barriers including lack of financing and institutional capacity, and to say nothing of poverty, consumption, and lack of societal trust.
While the challenges to address the climate crisis are great, several valuable opportunities to advance climate solutions lie well within our grasp. It is important that we collectively work to achieve the goals of what is called “climate resilient development,” and thereby simultaneously adapt to growing climate risks and incentivize opportunities to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. Together, these two aims could tackle climate change while promoting economic advancement that is both sustainable and equitable. Equity is central to the process of transition. Whether it is industries and employees retooling for a green economy, or communities fearing loss of their neighborhood to flooding or climate gentrification, the evidence is overwhelming that the more equitable and engaged the decision-making process, the more likely the climate action will be successful.
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Furthermore, we know that solutions should focus on securing the needed knowledge, financing, and decision-making capacity in advance, and being prepared to act when a window opens. Shocks like massive floods and disease outbreaks can become tipping points and bring attention to issues; but if emergent policies are to be effective and provide long-lasting solutions, they must also address underlying societal conditions, such as inequity and lack of trust in those in power due to a history of being cut out of the decision-making process.
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Read more: https://time.com/6565044/earth-2-point-0-climate-change/
Here I was thinking 1.5C was an uncrossable red line, and just like that it has now been redefined as an opportunity. No wonder there are “societal trust” issues.
I’m disgusted by the suggestion green policy advocates should be ambulance chasers. In my opinion seeing people traumatised by a major natural disaster as “windows of opportunity” for pushing green policies seems pretty low. If green ideas had any merit, proponents wouldn’t have to wait until people were too traumatised to think straight before trying to push their policy ideas.