Plus Two Degrees Celsius

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My morning walk began with a chill. However, as Axios reported, 2024 has already started on a record-breaking note, with global temperatures across the surface air and oceans higher than in the previous year, 2023. Global average surface air temperatures have reached or exceeded two °C above preindustrial levels during February, matching spikes first seen in November last year.

Axios also reported:

• In the waters of the North Atlantic, including the Main Development Region where most hurricanes form, temperatures have climbed to near levels typically seen during July.
• In short, the ocean temperatures there are bathtub warm due to a combination of human-caused climate change and natural variability.

In his NY Times Newsletter, David Wallace-Wells highlights that heat death and cataclysmic storms are just the tip of the iceberg regarding climate change concerns. However, one significant aspect often overlooked is air pollution. According to Drew Shindell’s research, additional burning of fossil fuels required to raise global temperatures from 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius would result in air pollution that would prematurely kill an estimated 153 million people.

Have we become mere lemmings marching toward the cliff? The time to act was yesterday!