A World on Thin Ice

A report released by the UN emphasizes the urgency of climate action before 2030.

BY RIA LOWENSCHUSS

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (UN IPCC) has released a new warning: if the world doesn’t cut carbon emissions in half by 2030, we will reach catastrophic levels of warming that will effectively end our fight against climate change.

On March 20, 2023, after a week-long session, the ICPP released the study “Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report,” which showed the long-term effects of a century of burning fossil fuels, as well as unsustainable land use like improper plowing and the use of agricultural chemicals. This includes the extreme weather that the world has experienced in the near past, such as the ice storms that have plagued the Midwest, as well as global food and water insecurity. The planet has warmed by 1.1 degrees Celsius since the time of the Industrial Revolution. The goal is to keep the warming to