Halloween is pretty scary. At least, it pretends to be. On Halloween this year, The New York Times ran a story that was truly scary. Truly! Really! Not pretend!
I will provide you a link to the story I am referencing. The story is titled, "Window for Meeting Key Climate Goal Is Even Narrower Than Thought." Maybe The Times will let you get past its paywall, to see what Raymond Zhong is telling us. It's scary, and the headline to my blog posting pretty much sums up the message that Zhong's story delivers:
Five years and change. That’s how long humans can keep pumping carbon into the atmosphere at our current rate before we’re likely to push global warming past the most ambitious limit set by the Paris Agreement.
Read the story, paywall permitting, but above all take note of that number.
If a person is walking towards a huge cliff, like the edge of the Grand Canyon, and they're a mile away, no one gets too scared. When they're half a mile away, likewise.
When they're five feet away, they'd better change direction.
Once you go over the cliff, you can't "walk it back."
Right?
We have five years and change, according to Zhong's story. Some would claim (some do claim) that we have already gone over the cliff, and that we have passed the "tipping point." Let's hope Zhong is right that we still have at least a little time left, but the time he gives us isn't much, considering that we are not "walking" towards a global climate catastrophe. We're running towards it.
"Five years and change?
Let's pay attention to that five year number, as I have already advised. However, upon reflection, the most significant word in that phrase is actually this one:
CHANGE
That's what we need to do!
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