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There is “no credible pathway to 1.5C in place”, the UN’s environment agency has said, and the failure to reduce carbon emissions means the only way to limit the worst impacts of the climate crisis is a “rapid transformation of societies”.
The UN environment report analysed the gap between the CO2 cuts pledged by countries and the cuts needed to limit any rise in global temperature to 1.5C, the internationally agreed target. Progress has been “woefully inadequate” it concluded.
Current pledges for action by 2030, if delivered in full, would mean a rise in global heating of about 2.5C and catastrophic extreme weather around the world. A rise of 1C to date has caused climate disasters in countries from Pakistan to Puerto Rico.
I dunno . . . when people try to say there is "no option but for a complete transformation of the society and economy," I feel the worst people are going to come out of the woodwork to use this as a rationale for evil.
A rapid transformation of societies... honestly I'm going to say the most depressing thing here. That's kinda my thing.
When they say transformation, they mean global depression. It's a euphemism. The climate won't recover unless humans start having a lot lot lot less activity, especially world powers. They mean letting people die, too. Climate change is going to decimate the global food supply so this won't be a difficult decision. Do you want to lose 50% of the global population now or 99% of the global population tomorrow? Those aren't real figures I'm just illustrating the kind of decisions global leaders will be making.
World powers going to war over climate change is a very real scenario. Politicians are going to be confronted by the competing pressures of population revolt and threats from other powers to agree to "rapid transformation" or war, and going to war might start looking like the better odds.
Will MAD hold up in a world facing climate induced existential crisis? Who knows. "If you push this button, life as we know it might cease to exist (...) If you don't push this button life as we know it might cease to exist."