The greatest issue of our time is climate change and its threat to our planet and humankind.
Since government meetings began in 1988 to discuss the urgency of climate change, global CO2 emissions have risen by well over 40 percent, and they continue to rise.
"Twenty-five years ago people could be excused for not knowing much, or doing much, about climate change. Today we have no excuse." -- Desmond Tutu
The planet has now warmed by about 1°C since we began burning coal on an industrial scale and average temperatures are on track to rise by as much as four times that amount before the century is up; the last time there was this much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, humans didn’t exist.
in December 2015 more than 190 nations unanimously agreed to do what it takes to keep total global warming “well below 2°C” That will leaving most of the world’s fossil fuels in the ground.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says 4°C of global warming could lead to ”substantial species extinctions,” “large risks to global and regional food security,” and the risk of irreversibly destabilising Greenland's massive ice sheet leading to sea level rises. It could also begin to release both methane and carbon dioxide from the sea as well as the northern permafrosts leading to a tipping point of no return.
This is why we are in an emergency and with just over ten years to make a difference we need to act now locally, nationally and globally.