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Save the Trees (And My Sanity) The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report has been released and well, things look even less optimistic than in the last edition. This is the sixth assessment of its kind by the IPCC, the results of which are momentous to our understanding of and response to climate change. Naturally, the reality of the most recent report is nothing less than confronting. Even as a student at the School of Earth, Atmosphere, and Environment, I tried with little success to avoid the findings for several days. Yet, the findings always end up finding us, one way or another. For those of you who are willing to revisit, or have otherwise been spared up until now — let’s go over the details: · The report (known as AR6) weighs in at a daunting 3949 pages. This handbook to climate chaos has been written by 234 of the world’s best (volunteer) climate and environmental scientists, so we can be sure it’s credible stuff. · For the first time, the IPCC has been able to conclude, unequivocally, that human activities are responsible for virtually all global warming (read: 1.07 out of 1.09°C) since the industrial revolution (but we knew that already, right?). · Perhaps most significantly, despite the ambitions of the Paris Agreement, 1.5 degrees of warming beyond pre-industrial levels is inevitable just past 2030 unless we cut all emissions by, well, yesterday. It is not unexpected that in light of these irrefutable results, many of us have been struck with a profound sense of grief. I feel myself sharing my anguish with a deep sense of hesitation, having an acute awareness that the losses that often feel so personal are in fact a symptom of collective trauma on a planetary scale. It is only now that I will admit I have found myself sobbing preemptively over losses that are sure to come.
