This blog may help people explore some of the 'hidden' issues involved in certain media treatments of environmental and scientific issues. Using personal digital images, it's also intended to emphasise seasonal (and other) changes in natural history of the Swansea (South Wales) area. The material should help participants in field-based modules and people generally interested in the natural world. The views are wholly those of the author.
Wednesday 11 May 2022
Now Equivalent to a Coin Toss?
At Glasgow's Cop26 the mantra was 'to strive to keep 1.5 alive'. It was seen important to attempt to limit global heating to 1.5 degrees Centigrade above pre-Industrial levels. The 1.5 degree rise 'target' had been, somewhat arbitrarily, judged in Paris to be an upper 'safe' limit (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/may/09/climate-limit-of-1-5-c-close-to-being-broken-scientists-warn). The global average temperature rise is already 1.1 degrees Centigrade above pre-Industrial levels. In 2015, there was a 0% chance of the 1.5 degree 'target' being exceeded in the following 5 years. In 2020, that risk was 20%. In 2021, the probability had risen to 40%. Scientists now calculate that the probability of surpassing the 1.5 degrees Centigrade global heating limit, in the next 5 years, is 50%. Heads or tails, anyone? By 2026, there will be a 93% probability that one year in the following 5, will be the hottest ever recorded since humans appeared on the planet. This seems to be what they call 'a racing certainty'?
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