Back in 2008, Andrew Simms and Dr Viki Johnston worked out that we had about 100 months before it was no longer ‘likely’ that global average surface temperature increases could be held below 2 degrees centigrade. That was 100 months ago.
Over that time, Andrew Simms has been writing a ‘Climate Change Diary’ for the Guardian, designed, as he says, to raise questions and monitor progress.
Yesterday, he wrote a piece reporting on the views of a number leading climate scientists and analysts he’d approached. Suffice to say, their feedback reflected a broad and bloody depressing monkey shit consensus on this mess we’re in. That aside, his piece, which really is worth taking the time to read, ended with a straight forward observation and a simple enough question.
With the amount of carbon burned by humans, we have now created a climate not experienced on Earth since the Pliocene era, 2m-5m years ago. We are daily rolling the climate dice with the odds stacked against us. But we are also clever, quick and innovative when we want to be. Now that we understand the game better, the question we face is whether we will choose to change it, fast and enough, so that we can all have better lives.
About that choice – a “tangerine nazi rapeclown” (and climate change denier to boot) is about to become the most powerful politician in the world and The Guardian, to mark the occasion “will spend the next 24 hours focusing on climate change happening right now, and what we can all do to help protect the planet.” Which seems appropriate.
Maybe it’ll be worth checking in from time to time.
And don’t get depressed. Get angry and demand change; make change happen. Or alternatively, choose to turn away and put off ’til tomorrow that which should never have been put off ’til today. Physics doesn’t care either way.
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