Rapid reduction in fossil fuel burning urgently needed to preserve liveable conditions, say scientists, as climate damage deepens

2023 “smashed” the record for the hottest year by a huge margin, providing “dramatic testimony” of how much warmer and more dangerous today’s climate is from the cooler one in which human civilisation developed.

The planet was 1.48C hotter in 2023 compared with the period before the mass burning of fossil fuels ignited the climate crisis. The figure is very close to the 1.5C temperature target set by countries in Paris in 2015, although the global temperature would need to be consistently above 1.5C for the target to be considered broken.

Scientists at the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (CCCS) said it was likely the 1.5C mark will be passed for the first time in the next 12 months.

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  • UnpopularCrow@lemmy.world
    571·
    10 months ago

    While I’m not specifically a climate scientist, I have degrees in atmospheric science, which include a PhD so I understand climate change better than most. The most frustrating part of informing people about this very real threat is how well the propaganda from the fossil fuel companies worked. We have known for 100 years about this and have solid evidence since the satellite era (1979-present). I can explain not only that climate change is real but also it is human caused and I can prove it mathematically on a white board in about 15 minutes to a laymen person (it isn’t hard). But despite the fact they believe in math (I ask them in the beginning just to be sure), they are skeptical of mathematical results. They know more than me, the scientist, because they watched a YouTube video this one time saying that it isn’t real. I’m honestly glad I don’t work in climate science because I can’t imagine how aggravating it can be.

    • WashedOver@lemmy.ca
      151·
      10 months ago

      Thanks social media. Everyone is an expert now. We all have our nice echo chamber feedback loops telling us all the things we want to believe is correct.

      No matter the discipline there’s someone that hasn’t even read a book since high school that knows more than experts.

      Anything done to filter out these yahoos is too much censorship by the government…

      The only other time I think it was this bad was during the heyday of yellow journalism but even then you needed to have access to a printing press.

    • Krauerking@lemy.lol
      11·
      10 months ago

      I did the same thing with someone using basic physics and the twin towers collapse as a basic principle of freefall and was able to get the timing of it almost exactly with basic math.

      The conspiracy theorist I was talking to stuttered like his brain rebooted several times before basically saying it didn’t matter and just proved that he was wrong about explosives but not about it being done by the CIA.

      It’s astounding and awful and we really don’t give a shit about science or scientists anymore if we ever did.

      I think I’m done trying to save the world cause it clearly doesn’t want to be saved. People just want to be right.

      • UnpopularCrow@lemmy.world
        3·
        10 months ago

        Ego is a huge human weakness. People struggle hard to admit they are wrong. This is especially true if they are committed to an idea that happens to be wrong. They would rather distort their own reality than admit they were wrong and try to grow from the experience. Once nice thing about being a scientist is we get lots of critical feedback from one another and we learn to admit when we are incorrect. However, even we are not immune. I know of one scientist who ruined their career committing to an idea that was wrong.