Climate Facts and Solutions To Know

by Rolly Montpellier
(Ottawa, Canada)

The climate crisis is fast becoming the defining challenge of our time. And one of the most important weapons in our war on climate change is evidence -- facts, truth and science. We need to turn down the heat by abandoning the burning of fossil fuels. The transition to a clean energy platform is both inevitable and urgent. This article was first published in Below2C by Rolly Montpellier @WellBelow2C.

Climate Facts

Carbon Pollution: Changes to the climate are attributable to atmospheric greenhouse gases (CO2 in particular). The levels of carbon dioxide are higher today than at any time during the past 3-5 million years, surpassing 400ppm for the first time in recorded history. Carbon pollution is driving climate change.

Consensus: There is now consensus around the climate crisis. More than 97 percent of scientists agree that climate change is happening and caused by human activity.

Food and Water: With a changing climate, food may become much harder to grow in many places around the globe. Fresh drinking water could become more scarce either because of drying or pollution from flooding water systems.

Extreme Weather: As global sea surface temperature continues to rise, the frequency, duration and intensity of hurricanes is noticeable. Droughts, floods and wildfires are more severe as storm systems are intensified by melting Arctic sea ice in the northern hemisphere.

Public Health: The same carbon that causes global warming is also beginning to affect your health. Climate change is among the greatest health risks of the twenty-first century. Rising temperatures and more extreme weather events cost lives directly, increase transmission and spread of infectious diseases, and undermine the environmental determinants of health, including clean air and water, and sufficient food,” according to the World Health Organization.

Climate Solutions

We have the answers and the solutions to solve the climate crisis.

Renewables: The declining costs and improvements in renewable technologies -- solar and wind projects – are fostering a clean energy revolution around the globe. There’s also incredible progress in battery technology and on smarter and more flexible energy grids.

Carbon Pricing: The game changer is carbon pricing, a mechanism that will drive low-emissions development. There are many, many ways for carbon pricing to work, with some models introducing a carbon price that rises over time, gradually putting more and more pressure on people or industries to cut their emissions.

Public Opinion: Everywhere you turn, more and more people worldwide believe that the climate crisis is real. And it’s a real threat. In America, hundreds of thousands have taken to the streets and marched to demand climate action and, as of March 2017.

The good news is, we can change. And we will change.

For the full article, click on Below2C/We Have a Climate Crisis: Ten Facts to Know

Rolly Montpellier

Rolly Montpellier is the Founder and Managing Editor of BoomerWarrior.Org. He’s a Climate Reality leader, a Blogger and a Climate Activist. He’s a member of Climate Reality Canada, Citizens’ Climate Lobby (Ottawa) and 350.Org (Ottawa), the Ethical Team (as an influencer) and Global Population Speakout.