Scientists issue renew warnings on climate
Weather warnings from Washington to Arizona are nothing new, but the types and severity are rare.
Evacuation orders were lifted in Arizona late this week as heavy rains began to dissipate.
The severity and frequency of weather events like these have scientists sounding the alarm on a global scale.
David Miller has more.
Transcript
The top panel of United Nations scientists said on Monday that humanity is close to its last chance to prevent the worst effects of climate change. To take advantage of that last chance, those same scientists are calling for a massive two-thirds slash to carbon pollution and fossil fuel use by 2035.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its sixth report this week as dramatic flooding and drought around the world has increased.
António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General: “Humans are responsible for virtually all global heating over the last 200 years.”
The United Nations Secretary-General took a more direct route calling for an end to new fossil fuel exploitation and for rich and poor countries to quit using coal, oil and natural gas by 2040.
The 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, of which the U.S. is currently a signatory, calls for pollution reduction goals to be made by 2035. There is also a globally accepted goal of limiting warming to 2.7 degrees fahrenheit above pre-industrial levels.
Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme: "Climate change is here now. It tells us that climate change is a real threat to human and planetary wellbeing. It tells us, of course, that these - human and planetary well being are one and the same. It tells us that we are very, very close to 1.5 degrees limit and that even this limit is not safe for people and for planet. "
For Market to Market, I’m David Miller.
Contact: Miller@iowapbs.org