banner
logo
black cross ✖



Essential background information

As climate change is a matter of such great concern, people should aim to understand the essential points:
The science of climate change
  • the steady rise in global temperature as mankind dumps more CO2 into the atmosphere
  • the unacceptable level of climate deaths, climate refugees, biodiversity loss and sea level rise
The urgency of action on climate change
  • the global
    carbon budget
    for 1.5°C runs out in 2030, and even sooner in developed countries
    e.g. 2025 for the UK
  • this means radical changes in lifestyles for many until renewable alternatives are developed, if temperature targets are to be met
What should have been done by governments and wider society
  • discussion of the impications of the Paris Agreement, agreement of a plan to eliminate fossil fuels, and implementation of the plan
What has actually been done
  • there have been many declarations of a climate emergency, but planning has been of non-emergency policies, and there has been little action
What has gone wrong
  • widespread failure of decision making
  • there has been no general discussion of the imminent exhaustion of the carbon budget - inadequate government timescales dominate discussions and have not been challenged
  • even
    climate campaigners are understating the size and urgency of changes needed, and advocating inadequate policies
  • flawed campaigning seems to be not just misunderstanding but a form of
    climate denial.
What choices do we have now
  • our current lifestyles are unsustainable, so radical change is coming - we can choose to organise radical change, or have disorganised radical change forced upon us
  • whether to continue with inadequate non-emergency policies or treat climate change as the highest priority i.e. as an
    emergency
  • whether to continue with the target of limiting global warming to 1.5°C or to accept the system has failed and consider a higher limit of e.g. 1.6°C

As climate change is a matter of such great concern, people should aim to understand the essential points:

The science of climate change
  • the steady rise in global temperature as mankind dumps more CO2 into the atmosphere
  • an unacceptable level of climate deaths, climate refugees, biodiversity loss and sea level rise
  • the dangers of uncontrolled climate change
The urgency of action on climate change
  • the urgency of action is given by the global
    carbon budget
    for 1.5°C running out in 2030, and even sooner in developed countries
    e.g. 2025 for the UK
  • this means radical changes in lifestyles for many until renewable alternatives are developed, if temperature targets are to be met
  • the climate has changed particularly rapidly in the last few years suggesting that even more urgent change is needed.
What should have been done by governments and wider society
  • discussion of the impications of the Paris Agreement, agreement of a plan to eliminate fossil fuels, and implementation of the plan
What has actually been done
  • there have been many declarations of a climate emergency, but planning has been of non-emergency policies, and there has been little action
What has gone wrong
People are fallible - what appears obvious to someone can be incorrect - as in the illusion
The squares labelled A and B are actually the same shade of grey!
- resulting in
  • widespread failure of decision making - decisions are flawed because of
    • ignorance
    • arrogance/overconfidence and other cognitive biases
    • self-interest
    • lack of accountability
  • there is no general discussion of the imminent exhaustion of the carbon budget - inadequate government timescales dominate discussions and have not been challenged - there has been no competent plan and little action
  • even
    climate campaigners are understating the size and urgency of changes needed, and advocating inadequate policies
  • flawed campaigning seems to be not just misunderstanding but a form of
    climate denial.
What choices do we have now
  • our current lifestyles are unsustainable, so radical change is coming - we can choose to organise radical change, or have disorganised radical change forced upon us
  • whether to continue with inadequate non-emergency policies or treat climate change as the highest priority i.e. as an
    emergency
  • What target for climate action should be adopted
    • the Paris Agreement commitment was to limit global warming to 1.5°C or at least well under 2.0°C - the target has been 1.5°C, but the fair UK carbon budget for 1.5°C runs out in 2025 - there is a choice of whether to continue with the target of limiting global warming to 1.5°C or to accept that the system has failed and consider a higher limit of e.g. 1.6°C

References

[1]Edward H. Adelson: Checker shadow illusion https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/File:Checker_shadow_illusion.svg


First published: 13 Feb 2025
Last updated: 18 Feb 2025     Page No: 184