Climate Crisis: Crisis Across the Globe
- Proud Raksriaksorn
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
“The era of global warming has ended; the era of global boiling has arrived.”
This was a statement made by UN Secretary-General António Guterres 2 years ago - a prophecy that has indeed come true since then. 2024 is currently the warmest year ever recorded, with an average surface temperature that was 1.55°C higher than pre-industrial (1850-1900) temperatures. And unfortunately, it doesn’t stop there.
Given the current trajectory of rising temperatures, we are likely to see an even warmer year than 2024 before the end of the decade. The World Meteor Organisation’s (WMO) Global Annual to Decadal Climate Update predicts that over the next five years, the planet’s average surface temperature could fall anywhere between 1.2-1.9°C above pre-industrial levels. Most worrying of all, there is an 86% chance that the temperature will exceed 1.5°C of warming before 2030. And, although the average temperature across a 20-year period must be 1.5°C higher than pre-industrial levels to be considered a breach of the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C warming limit, the fact that 2024 as an individual year has already surpassed the 1.5°C mark is beyond concerning - this is the start of a global climate crisis.
It’s time we open our eyes and face the dreaded truth.
The disaster isn’t coming. It’s already here.
Take a look anywhere in the world:
Unprecedented rates of glacier and sea ice loss at the poles, where temperatures are rising nearly four times faster than the global average…
… deadly heat waves scorching Southern Europe…
… Southeast Asia drowning in floodwater…
… air pollution smothering South Asia and the Middle East…
… Africa battling drought and famine…
… wildfires ravaging North America and Australia…
… islands literally being swallowed by rising seas.
And finally, underpinning all of this is the alarmingly rapid decline of biodiversity. With over one million species facing the threat of extinction and a vast majority of land and marine ecosystems having been significantly changed by human activity, the stakes have never been higher.
Forests and grasslands are disappearing. Deserts are expanding. Wetlands are drying up. Our oceans are choking in plastic, growing more acidic by the second and slowly killing coral reefs - along with the fish that rely on them.
Biodiversity isn’t just about nature, it’s also about our food security, our health and our climate resilience. Our entire livelihoods are thrown into jeopardy by climate change, a threat that is largely driven by our own actions. If we continue on this path, there is a very real possibility that we could fail to meet up to eight of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
There is no easy way to put this anymore. We are out of time.
This is our last chance to take action and create a real and lasting impact. Climate change isn’t a distant issue anymore. It’s real. It’s here. It’s now. And it’s affecting you, me, and every single human being on this planet. It’s time we did something about it - if not for the trees, if not for the animals, if not for the ones you love, then do it for yourself.
We’ve got one last shot at turning this climate crisis around - let’s make it count.
Credits:
Images - Bloomberg News, The Guardian, BBC, CGTN Africa, Science Friday, Sailing Malibu, WWF, people4ocean, Adobe Stock, European Parliament
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