From France24
Climate change will fundamentally reshape life on Earth in the coming decades, even if humans can tame planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, according to a landmark draft report from the UN’s climate science advisors.
Species extinction, more widespread disease, unliveable heat, ecosystem collapse, cities menaced by rising seas — these and other devastating climate impacts are accelerating and bound to become painfully obvious before a child born today turns 30.
Also picked up by the Guardian.The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has penned another terrifying report. The research, which was due to be published after this year’s climate conference, highlights the dangers of twelve so-called ‘tipping points’. Tipping points are a series events that are likely to be triggered when temperatures reach a certain level, such as the melting of the Arctic permafrost, which would release methane or the possibility that the Amazon could turn into savannah.
They represent “the largest potential risks of climate change,” according to Bob Ward, policy and communications director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment. While some scientists welcomed the stronger language from the IPCC, which has been accused of ignoring the issue in the past, others said it could lead to a sense of helplessness, stressing that there is still time and action that can be taken to avoid dire consequences.