WHAT OTHERS SAY

A SPARK OF HOPE

For people concerned about climate change, the daunting drumbeat of year-end news is alarming. “It is hard to overstate the urgency of our situation,” UN Secretary-general Antonio Guterres said last week at the UN climate conference in Poland. “Even as we witness devastating climate impacts causing havoc across the world, we are still not doing enough, nor moving fast enough, to prevent irreversible and catastrophic climate disruption.” The US government’s Fourth National Climate Assessment — quietly released on Black Friday — also describes in disturbing detail the anticipated impacts of climate change. As temperatures increase, so do the odds of wildires in the West, more record-breaking “nuisance looding” events in South Florida and more disruptions in ocean isheries. Absent a course correction, it suggests we face staggering effects on water, energy and human health. And the annual Arctic Report Card released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration this week says the Arctic region has experienced a multi-year period of warmth “unlike any period on record” and the effects are cascading around the globe. Meanwhile, greenhouse gas emissions are growing like a “speeding freight train” because of a surging appetite for oil, the New York Times reported last week, referencing two peer-reviewed studies. Worldwide, carbon emissions are expected to increase by 2.7 per cent in 2018. Last year they rose 1.6 per cent, ending a three-year plateau.