In December international representatives will meet in Paris to try to strike a new global climate agreement to reduce global warming. According to an an analysis by a group called Climate Interactive, if all the pledges by all the countries so far are carried out, by the end of this century the planet’s climate will increase by about 6.3 degrees Fahrenheit instead of 8.1 degrees if countries continue on their present course. (See “Progress Seen on Warming, With a Caveat” by Justin Gillis and Somini Sengupta in today’s Times.)
The good news is that the Pope has called for action, our President realizes how serious this problem is, and even China is moving aggressively to reduce greenhouse gasses.
The bad news is that certain groups (Republicans in Congress, members of ISIS, religious fundamentalists) deny global warming even exists, in spite of clear scientific evidence to the contrary.
The really bad news is that even if countries carry out their pledges, we will have drought, famine, species extinction, wars over water and crops, sea level rise, and a world in just 85 years that none of us would recognize. I shudder when I think what today’s kids, including my own grandson, will inherit.
Apparently some people will never believe that it exists. Over my life time of some 77 years I have taken notice to weather changes. Most of our gardens were dead by the time we hit early Sept. with the first frosts of the year. Now that is not happening until into Oct. Take notice to the devastating weather that Calif. and the west coast is seeing. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see this.
ReplyDeleteThe large corporations that do not want to conform to EPA rules have the GOP in there pockets
That is why the GOP says that global warning does not exist. All they care about is getting reelected and use that money from them to make it happen.
I believe that anyone who spends time outdoors or has a garden who is in his or her seventies is well aware of the changes. When I was a teenager, we usually had our first frost during the Lehighton Fair, which was the Labor Day week. Tomorrow is Sept. 30, and we still have not had a frost. Same as last year.
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