It’s selfish I know, but just seeing all people from the North complaining about how horribly hot it is right now makes me quite scared of how things will be looking down south later in the year. I’m enjoying my ~15º C right now but it can get stupidly hot where I live in the summer and I’m really not looking forward to seeing shopping mall Santa Clauses melting into puddles come Christmas.
There’s very little official talk of preparing for the summer here and I bet most people will just become surprised airfried pikachu if we also get our heat records.
No, I do care. And I’m glad you’re aware of the situation in the global south. Don’t be a doomer like me. I’m too old to blow up pipelines. But I’ve been following the research for years. And even if we stopped using fossil fuels now. The line would still go up. The heating you’re seeing now is from the early 2000s. We’ve only been burning more since then. Carbon sequestration technology isn’t enough. Renewables aren’t enough. We need degrowth now just to keep it under 4 degrees. And everyday we don’t act only compounds it. Not to mention, when we stop using carbon, the aerosol pollution that is currently blanketing the planet will go away. Heating the earth more. It’s like another .5 degrees. So we’re actually already passed 2 degrees. Geoengineering is a possibility, but scientists aren’t sure how effective it can be. I didn’t even get into how we will be affected. Mass migration. Wars over water and instability. Food scarcity. Plankton dying off. No fishing. Soil degradation. Wet bulb temps. We’re fucked!
For those reading this. That doesn’t mean to give up hope. Yes things are gonna change-a lot. But you’re alive now and can still shape the future. Do it. And know this old man will be cheering you on.