THE WORLD IS GETTING HOTTER

THE last few years has seen the world experience extreme weather, record temperatures and rapid ice melt.

Latest reports indicate that we are running out of time for easier solutions and that human activity is changing the climate in unprecedented and irreversible ways.

CHECK OUT THE FACTS

● The 10 warmest years since records began in 1880 have all been recorded since 2010

● A total of 28 countries experienced their warmest year ever last year

● Record warmth was recorded in Western Europe…..including Spain, Portugal, Andorra, France, Belgium, Morocco and Germany. All very close to home.

● The UK hit 40·C for the first time ever

● In 2022 there was a heatwave in the Antarctic which briefly pushed up temperatures by 38·C above the average

● The drought in Europe last year was the worst for 500 years

● The Alps had unusually low levels of snow

PRETTY DISMAL READING

Berkeley Earth, a Californian based independent research institute, predicts that this year will be hotter than last year and that 2024 will break the record again. The Paris Agreement on Climate Change (which all European countries signed up to in 2015), set a target of limiting global warming to 1.5·C . We are on a trajectory to hit 1.5·C before 2034 and hit 2.0·C before 2060.

ATMOSPHERIC CO2 LEVELS

Last year levels of CO2 exceeded the recorded levels of 2021, which in turn were higher than the previous year. This simply cannot continue.

Planting more trees and protecting carbon absorbing ecosystems is one of the most effective ways of capturing carbon.

But forests worldwide are shrinking at an alarming rate.

Destruction of tropical forests is far outstripping the current rate of replanting.

A massive concern is that over a quarter of the

Amazon now emits more carbon than it absorbs.

MELTING ICE

Arctic sea ice has shrunk.

The rapid loss of Arctic sea ice is not just a symptom of climate change. It is also a driver. There is less snow and ice now to reflect heat. The white reflective surface is being replaced by a darker heat absorbing surface, which leads to further loss of sea ice.

This is a vicious circle that has to be broken. Now is the time for governments to act. Therein lies the problem. Talk is cheap…..action costs money.