Past four years hottest on record

[T]he 20 warmest have occurred in the past 22 years.

The warming trend is unmistakeable and shows we are running out of time to tackle climate change, according to the World Meteorological Organization, which on Thursday published its provisional statement on the State of the Climate in 2018. The WMO warned that, on current trends, warming could reach 3C to 5C by the end of this century.

  A report on climate change predicted that allowing climate pollution to continue to rise would result in $118bn in damages to coastal property. Photograph: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA 

 It looks like young people who have the most at stake are our planets last hope. I've warned about this four years ago.  We need something like the opposition to the Vietnam War in the 1960's and 70's.  Or attacks on the oil companies.  The best alternative -- Republicans must be voted out of office. 

Jens Mattias Clausen, Greenpeace’s head of delegation at the UN climate change conference (COP24) in Poland, said: “The evidence, if we needed any more, continues to stack up. The record-high heatwaves, record-low Arctic sea ice, above average tropical cyclones and deadly wildfires are an alarm bell impossible to ignore. We’re in the midst of a climate crisis and this meteorological report spells out the worsening threat in startling clarity. It’s no longer our future that is in peril; our today is at risk.

If we can the support for action, even initial efforts will have an important impact on our future.

Climate efforts aren’t all or nothing

Limiting greenhouse gases would substantially benefit the US economy and stop thousands of deaths each year, compared with allowing climate pollution to continue to rise through the 21st century.

There are things that could be done right now.

 When people think of potential solutions to global warming, they tend to visualize technologies like solar panels or electric cars. A new study published on Wednesday, however, found that better management of forests, grasslands and soils in the United States could offset as much as 21 percent of the country’s annual greenhouse gas emissions.

We have to act now.