UN Report Says 12 Years to Avert Climate Catastrophe

By Steve Bynum
South Korea Climate Ambitious Goal
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, Chair Hoesung Lee, top center, and other leaders hold a press conference in Incheon, South Korea, Monday, Oct. 8, 2018. Preventing an extra single degree of heat could make a life-or-death difference in the next few decades for multitudes of people and ecosystems on this fast-warming planet, an international panel of scientists reported Sunday. But they provide little hope the world will rise to the challenge. Ahn Young-joon / AP Photo
South Korea Climate Ambitious Goal
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, Chair Hoesung Lee, top center, and other leaders hold a press conference in Incheon, South Korea, Monday, Oct. 8, 2018. Preventing an extra single degree of heat could make a life-or-death difference in the next few decades for multitudes of people and ecosystems on this fast-warming planet, an international panel of scientists reported Sunday. But they provide little hope the world will rise to the challenge. Ahn Young-joon / AP Photo

UN Report Says 12 Years to Avert Climate Catastrophe

By Steve Bynum
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A few weeks ago, we spoke with famed climate scientist, Don Wuebbles, about the impending catastrophe awaiting us for failing to act on Climate Change. He has been a lead author of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which today released a dire report stating unequivocally that we have only 12 years to keep global warming to a maximum of 1.5C, beyond which we will experience significantly worse drought, floods, extreme heat and poverty, affecting hundreds of millions of people. The authors also call for “urgent” and “unprecedented” changes to slow down future cataclysmic events. Mark Hertsgaard, environment correspondent for The Nation magazine will share with us his thoughts on the sobering report. His most recent book is HOT: Living Through the Next Fifty Years on Earth.