6 mo. ago • 97%

World’s top climate scientists expect global heating to blast past 1.5C target

www.theguardian.com World’s top climate scientists expect global heating to blast past 1.5C target

Exclusive: Planet is headed for at least 2.5C of heating with disastrous results for humanity, poll of hundreds of scientists finds

Planet is headed for at least 2.5C of heating with disastrous results for humanity, poll of hundreds of scientists finds

Hundreds of the world’s leading climate scientists expect global temperatures to rise to at least 2.5C (4.5F) this century, blasting past internationally agreed targets and causing catastrophic consequences for humanity and the planet, an exclusive Guardian survey has revealed.

Almost 80% of the respondents, all from the authoritative Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), foresee at least 2.5C of global heating above preindustrial levels, while almost half anticipate at least 3C (5.4F). Only 6% thought the internationally agreed 1.5C (2.7F) limit will be met.

Many of the scientists envisage a “semi-dystopian” future, with famines, conflicts and mass migration, driven by heatwaves, wildfires, floods and storms of an intensity and frequency far beyond those that have already struck.

Numerous experts said they had been left feeling hopeless, infuriated and scared by the failure of governments to act despite the clear scientific evidence provided.

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149 comments

My favorite part was when corporations lied their asses off to the entire world for over 50 years while simultaneously telling is this is all our fault but if we recycled and didn't use too much water, gas, or electricity we could undo the harm that we were personally responsible for.

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I dont understand, everyone bought bigger SUV's and it didnt help

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We are so fucked unless we force "all" the big corporations to pay for the pollution they caused while making trillions in profit over the decades they polluted and hid the scientific knowledge showing climate change. And even then,if we stop polluting right now, we still might not Make it as a civilisation.

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We have already gone past that for the last couple of years. It seems like 6% of respondents are very naïve.

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Anyone who hasn't had their head up their ass has been aware of this. Life will be extremely shitty by the mid century. If you haven't made the horrible choice to reproduce, be sure that you don't. There will be no future worth living for those born today.

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The only chance we have that I see is the rapid development of fusion into a proper, usable power source, the supplantation of effectively all carbon emitting power plants with non-emitting plants (fusion or otherwise), the effectively complete electrification of the global commercial transport system, and a massive scaling of production direct carbon capture, leveraging the various aforementioned non-carbon emitting electricity sources to make it happen.

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Guess who is trying to deep-six EVs?

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famines, conflicts and mass migration

This will happen for sure and the cause is not just climate change. The cause is overpopulation and exhaustion of the Earth resources.

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77% of respondents believe global temperatures will reach at least 2.5C above pre-industrial levels, a devastating degree of heating;

almost half – 42% – think it will be more than 3C;

only 6% think the 1.5C limit will be achieved.

This is not how science works.
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This is no longer a sigpost on the way to oblivion, but a giant neon billboard in our living room. violent explosion shit! The billboard exploded and set our house on fire... Better blame some Arsonists

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Hundreds of the world’s leading climate scientists expect global temperatures to rise to at least 2.5C (4.5F)

I'm not saying that everyone bothers in comments, but I'd have thought that as a major news publication, The Guardian would bother to use the degree symbol:

Hundreds of the world’s leading climate scientists expect global temperatures to rise to at least 2.5°C (4.5°F)

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Sweet! If this is at all obvious to anyone paying attention and I’ve been saying I expect it to happen for years, I’m putting “One of the worlds top scientists” on my resume.

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when this century? soon or in ~70 years?

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