Posted on 26 September 2020 by John Hartz

Editor's Choice

Climate Disruption Is Now Locked In. The Next Moves Will Be Crucial

A crack on the Amery Ice Shelf in Antarctica last year. If warming destabilizes the continent’s ice irreversibly, ocean levels could continue to rise for centuries. Credit: Richard Coleman/Australian Antarctic Division, via Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

America is now under siege by climate change in ways that scientists have warned about for years. But there is a second part to their admonition: Decades of growing crisis are already locked into the global ecosystem and cannot be reversed.

This means the kinds of cascading disasters occurring today — drought in the West fueling historic wildfires that send smoke all the way to the East Coast, or parades of tropical storms lining up across the Atlantic to march destructively toward North America — are no longer features of some dystopian future. They are the here and now, worsening for the next generation and perhaps longer, depending on humanity’s willingness to take action.

“I’ve been labeled an alarmist,” said Peter Kalmus, a climate scientist in Los Angeles, where he and millions of others have inhaled dangerously high levels of smoke for weeks. “And I think it’s a lot harder for people to say that I’m being alarmist now.”

Click here to access the entire article originally published on the New York Times website.

Climate Disruption Is Now Locked In. The Next Moves Will Be Crucial by John Branch & Brad Pulmer, Climate, New York Times, Sep 22, 2020

Articles Linked to on Facebook

Sun, Sep 20, 2020

• Climate Scientists Take Their Closest Look Yet at the Warming Impact of Aviation Emissions by Leto Sapunar, InsideClimate News, Sep 18, 2029
• New Zealanders rank climate change above Covid this election by Eleanor Ainge Roy, New Zealand, Guardian, Sep 18, 2020
• How Clifornia Became Ground Zero for Climate Disasters by Christopher Flavelle, Climate, New York Times, New York Times, Sep 20, 2020
• Weary Gulf Coast mayors say hurricane season has changed for the worse, which many attribute to climate shifts by Ashley Cusick & Maria Sacchetti, National, Washington Post, Sep 19, 2020

Mon, Sep 21, 2020

• The tipping points at the heart of the climate crisis by Michael Marshall, The Observer/The Guardian, Sep 19, 2020
• Every Place Has Its Own Climate Risk. What Is It Where You Live?, Opinion by Stuart A Thompson & Yarnya Serkez, New York Times, Sep 20, 2020
• Tropical Storm Beta forecast to make landfall Monday in hurricane-weary Gulf Coast by Juan A. Lozano, AP/USA TODAY, Sep 21, 2020
• Wildfire-weary Californians, 'tired of this being normal,' consider uprooting their lives by Ray Sanchez, CNN, Sep 19, 2020

Tue, Sep 22, 2020

• Censored: Australian scientists say suppression of environment research is getting worse by Dyani Lews, Nature, Sep 21, 2020
• Highlighting 'Extreme Carbon Inequality,' Oxfam Study Shows World's Richest 1% Emit More Than Twice as Much CO2 as Poorest 50% by Brett Wilkins, Common Dreams, Sep 21, 2020
• A sunny day in Charleston and a flood: What that tells us about climate change and the future By Tony Bartelme, Rising Waters, Post & Courier, Sep 21, 2020
• 'Rainmaker' Beta makes landfall in Texas; 'Gigantic' Teddy heads for Nova Scotia and Newfoundland by Jeff Masters, Eye on the Storm, Yale Climate Connections, Sep 22, 2020
• A missing piece in Charleston’s sea level rise puzzle is what’s happening on land by Chloe Johnson, Rising Waters, Post & Courier, Sep 21, 2020

Wed, Sep 23, 2020

• Arctic Sea Ice Reaches a Low, Just Missing Record by Henry Fountain, Climate & Environment, New York Times, Sep 21, 2020
• Noam Chomsky’s Green New Deal by David Roberts, Energy & Environment, Vox, Sep 21, 2020
• Climate Disruption Is Now Locked In. The Next Moves Will Be Crucial by John Branch & Brad Pulmer, Climate, New York Times, Sep 22, 2020
• Flooding intensifies Charleston region’s racial and wealth inequities by Stephen Hobbs & Rickey Ciapha Dennis Jr., Rising Waters, Post & Courier, Sep 22, 2020

Thu, Sep 24, 2020

• Wildfire danger in West to escalate as intense heat dome builds this weekend by Andrew Freedman & Diana Leonard, Capital Weather Gang, Washington Post, Sep 23, 2020
• Calculating the true climate impact of aviation emissions, Guest Post by David S Lee &  Piers Forster, Carbon Brief, Sep 21, 2020
• China Says It Will Stop Releasing CO₂ within 40 Years by Jean Chemnick & Benjamin Storrow, E&E News/Scientific American, Sep 23, 2020
• How Justice Ginsburg’s Death Could Affect Future Climate Rulings by Jennifer HijaSatzi, E&E News/Scientific American, Sep 22, 2020

Fri, Sep 25, 2020

• Melting Antarctic ice will raise sea level by 2.5 metres – even if Paris climate goals are met, study finds by Fiona Harvey, Environment, The Guardian, Sep 23, 2020
• Recent pieces on importance of 'sliding baselines' by SueEllen Campbell, Article, Yale Climate Connections, Sep 24, 2020
• Inside Clean Energy: In South Carolina, a Happy Compromise on Net Metering by Dan Gearino, Inside Climate News, Sep 24, 2020
• How affluent people can end their mindless overconsumption by Jag Bhalla & Eliza Barclay, Energy & Environment, Vox, Sep 24, 2020

Sat, Sep 26, 2020

• Ocean Heat Waves Are Directly Linked to Climate Change by Hemry Fountain, Climate & Environment, New York Times, Sep 24, 2020
• Analysis: China’s Covid stimulus plans for fossil fuels three times larger than low-carbon, Guest Post by Lauri Myllyvirta, Carbon Brief, Sep 23, 2020
• The evidence is compelling on human activity as the principal cause of global warming by Gary Yohe, Henry Jacoby & Richard Richels, Climate Explained, Yale Climate Connections, Sep 25, 2020
• On climate change, oil and gas companies have a long way to go by David Roberts, Energy & Environment, Vox, Sep 25, 2020