Yves here. “Attraction” isn’t exactly the word I’d use for the IPPC climate reports due out in 2021 and 2022, unless you are the sort that enjoys renderings of a freight train bearing down on you. However, for climate change activists, the IPPC studies are critical rallying points, both for reinforcing the urgency of taking action and for getting behind some (many?) of their recommendations.
Despite the speed bump posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is rolling toward completion of its Sixth Assessment Report, the latest in a series that began in 1990.
IPCC’s assessments, produced by many hundreds of scientists volunteering countless hours, have long been the world’s most definitive statements on human-induced climate change from fossil fuel use. Rather than carrying out its own research, the IPCC crafts its consensus assessment reports based on the vast array of peer-reviewed work in science journals. The draft reports are scrut
Calendar year 2020 was an extreme and abnormal year, in so many ways. The global coronavirus pandemic altered people’s lives around the world, as did extreme weather and climate events. Let’s review the year’s top 10 such events.
1. Hottest Year on Record?
The official rankings will not be released until January 14, but according to NASA, Earth’s average surface temperature in 2020 is likely to tie with 2016 for the hottest year on record, making the last seven years the seven hottest on record.
Remarkably, the record warmth of 2020 occurred during a minimum in the solar cycle and in a year in which a moderate La Niña event formed. Surface cooling of the tropical Pacific during La Niña events typically causes a slight global cool-down, as does the minimum of the solar cycle, making it difficult to set all-time heat records. The record heat of 2020 in these circumstances is a demonstration of how powerful human causes of global warming have become.
2020 s Worst Environmental Disasters, and How Climate Change Played a Role | The Weather Channel
The Weather Channel 12/20/2020 Ron Brackett
In a year of unprecedented disasters, much of the damage done to our planet in 2020 was self-inflicted.
From devastating oil spills in sensitive areas to deadly wildfires that consumed record acreage to failing dams that flooded entire towns, the worst environmental disasters of the year showed the influence of humans.
That influence is clearly evident when a tanker slams into a coral reef and spills thousands of barrels of oil. It s less obvious when climate change is a factor behind raging wildfires across the Western U.S. and Australia.
ake a look out the window and it’s easy to see how people are changing the landscape. The human fingerprint touches almost every part of the globe. We’ve also shaped the planet in ways that aren’t visible: Human activities have actually changed the composition of the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is an important component of the atmosphere, and human activities have increased the amount of this gas in the atmosphere by 45% since widespread industrial activities began in the mid-1700s.
This is important because CO2 plays multiple roles in keeping Earth’s climate stable. Nature is a carefully balanced system, and over the years, humans have disrupted this balance. Thankfully, we also are capable of reducing our impact – especially now that we understand more about how the Earth system works.