US-And-The-World

Almost 200 countries have signed up to the Paris climate accord, which aims to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), ideally no more than 1.5 C (2.7 F), by the end of the century compared to pre-industrial times.

The 3,000-page report “provides an unprecedented degree of clarity about the future of our planet, and the need to reduce – and ultimately eliminate – our emissions of greenhouse gases,” said Zeke Hausfather of the Breakthrough Institute, a global environmental research center.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Climate change report from IPCC warns of a ‘code red for humanity’

The report, which calls climate change clearly human-caused and “unequivocal,” makes more precise and warmer forecasts for the 21st century than it did last time it was issued, in 2013.“If this IPCC report doesn’t shock you into action, it should,” said Helen Mountford of the World Resources Institute, a research nonprofit organization. “The report paints a very sobering picture of the unforgiving, unimaginable world we have in store if our addiction to burning fossil fuels and destroying forests continues. One of the most striking takeaways is that we may reach 1.5°C of warming a decade earlier than the IPCC had previously found.”

Weather extremes, fossil fuel pollution cost US $240 billion: study

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climatechange-usa/weather-extremes-fossil-fuel-pollution-cost-us-240-billion-study-idUSKCN1C22AM

“The evidence is undeniable: the more fossil fuels we burn, the faster the climate continues to change,”

“Costs to human health from air pollution caused by fossil fuels averaged $188 billion a year over the past decade, it estimated, while losses from weather extremes such as droughts, heat waves and floods averaged $52 billion.”

“the $240 billion costs, equivalent to 1.2 percent of U.S. gross domestic product”

“The combined cost of extreme weather and pollution from fossil fuels would climb to $360 billion a year in the next decade, the study said.”

https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkobayashisolomon/2019/01/04/climate-change-investing-the-greatest-opportunity-in-history/#8d051ea3e34f

“So, what can we do? Is civilization doomed? My answer is “Absolutely not!”

The issues pointed out in Limits to Growth and backed up by subsequent experimental results offers humanity the kind of opportunity that exceeds any economic potential ever experienced in the historical record.”

“Complacent optimism is the feeling of a child waiting for presents. Conditional optimism is the feeling of a child who is thinking about building a treehouse. “If I get some wood and nails and persuade some other kids to help do the work, we can end up with something really cool.

Think of the fortunes made during the Industrial Revolution – fortunes that exist even to the present day”