Chances are rapidly disappearing to limit Earth’s temperature rise to the globally agreed mark, but researchers say there are some positive signs of progress.
It’s been North American policy for years now that there’s no chance of keeping temperature below 1.5C. We’ve ramped up natural gas production at a terrifying rate, knowing that it will be worse for the environment on a 20-year (and maybe even a 100-year) time scale because of fugitive emissions, but trusting that it will eventually equalize.
That policy is just plain fucked up because it takes the brunt of the environmental impact today and pushes the recovery to some unknown time far in the future, but that’s the policy that we’ve taken. In fact, US energy production from fossil fuels has risen by 40% since it’s plateau in the 1970s-2000s period. Fourty percent.
It’s been North American policy for years now that there’s no chance of keeping temperature below 1.5C. We’ve ramped up natural gas production at a terrifying rate, knowing that it will be worse for the environment on a 20-year (and maybe even a 100-year) time scale because of fugitive emissions, but trusting that it will eventually equalize.
That policy is just plain fucked up because it takes the brunt of the environmental impact today and pushes the recovery to some unknown time far in the future, but that’s the policy that we’ve taken. In fact, US energy production from fossil fuels has risen by 40% since it’s plateau in the 1970s-2000s period. Fourty percent.