Even if we wanted to sugar-coat an issue like global warming, we couldn’t. Put simply, the current state of the climate crisis isn’t good, or even bad – it’s catastrophic.
And unfortunately, it’s getting worse. According to the WMO, there’s a 93 per cent chance that one of the years between 2022 and 2026 will be the warmest to date. The scorching temperatures of summer 2023 have, of course, already shattered previous temperature records – but it doesn’t look like those will stand for long.
As for the amount of CO2 in Earth’s atmosphere, the global average in 2022 was 417.2 parts per million (ppm). In 2023, it’s forecast to increase to 419.2ppm. For context, the last time this level exceeded 400pm was in the Pliocene era – around 400 million years ago.
We’ve already talked about rising sea levels. But it’s not necessarily these that we notice every day – nor are the gradually increasing temperatures, or the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, tangible things we can always observe or engage with.
No – ultimately, how climate change manifests is in the seemingly weekly acts of devastation we see in the world around us.
In 2022 – and in the US alone – there were 18 billion-dollar climate disasters: 11 severe storms and three tropical cyclones, plus droughts, wildfires, and flooding. They resulted in 474 deaths, with a total monetary cost of over US$170 billion.
Of course, climate change isn’t any one country’s problem alone.
In 2023, flooding ravaged Zambia in January. An earthquake tore through Turkey in February. Wildfires burned in Algeria throughout July and into August. While a series of tropical cyclones and storms – Cheneso in Madagascar, Freddy in Mozambique, and Kevin in Vanuatu, to name just a few – tore through the southern hemisphere’s coastal and island countries.
Wildfires are expected to become much more frequent as climate change takes hold (Adobe)
This is the state of global warming. In the disasters, the devastation – and even the diseases. Climate change can influence the distribution and behaviour of disease-carrying vectors, such as ticks and malaria. It can worsen the quality of our air, leading to higher concentrations of pollutants and allergens. While changes in our climate’s precipitation patterns and flooding can contaminate water sources: increasing the prevalence of cholera and dysentery.
Fortunately, the world is doing something about it. In 2015, the Paris Climate Agreement was signed at the 21st UN Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP21) in the French capital.
It’s an international treaty that requires all countries to cut back their greenhouse gas emissions – even those that haven’t joined or signed the Paris Climate Agreement. This has set the stage for global collaboration, as well as acknowledging the ongoing climate emergency (the first step, of course, to fixing it).
The Paris Agreement’s central goal? To limit global warming to well below 2 degrees – and pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees.
Every year, the COP provides an opportunity from countries all over the world to come together to review, negotiate, and debate international goals surrounding climate change.
The next COP will take place in Dubai throughout November and December.
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