The Climate Crisis Down Under

Climate change is here and things are not fine; Commentary: My world's on fire, how 'bout yours?

Jackson Ryan, December 23, 2019 (C/NET)

“…[In a classic 2013 cartoon, an iconic yellow dog does nothing to avert the obviously catastrophic situation it finds itself in. Instead, it remarks ‘This is fine’ as its skin melts away and its eyeballs seep out of its head like goo…In 2019, it seems prescient…[The] world is on fire…[And] many huge emitters are not on track to meet their 2030 emissions reductions pledges…[But, in August 2018, Greta Thunberg began this ‘School Strike For Climate’, and in September, 2019, 7 million people took to the streets] pleading with policymakers and governments to combat the climate crisis…This is not fine…

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…As the planet gets hotter, it makes extreme climate events like [Autralia’s catastrophic] bushfires more and more likely…As the crisis worsened, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison pushed the climate crisis to the side…The Deputy Prime Minister, Michael McCormack, slammed those raising concerns about climate change during the crisis…Many of those who had lost their homes did not agree, protesting outside New South Wales' Parliament House with buckets of ash…Those protestors don't believe the carbon dioxide we're pumping into the air started the fires. But they believe it is exacerbating them. Climate change is making the bushfire season longer…[But] Morrison said there was no scientific evidence linking the bushfires with carbon emissions and climate change. There is…None of this is fine…

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...[R]esearch features the expertise of hundreds of scientists and researchers, using tens of thousands of sources to provide the most comprehensive, up-to-the-minute examination of the planet we can muster. They keep gathering data, it keeps telling them the same things. There is a consensus: Humans are accelerating global warming…In 2019, the climate crisis has become firmly entrenched as a battleground in the never-ending culture wars…The overwhelming majority of those scientists make it crystal clear: Unless we reduce our emissions -- dramatically and rapidly -- we will find ourselves living on a planet hotter than ever before…We are only just beginning to understand what a hotter Earth looks like…This is not fine.” click here for more

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