“Global heating is technically more correct (than “global warming”) because we are talking about changes in the energy balance of the planet. The risks are compounding all the time. It stands to reason that the sooner we can take action, the quicker we can rein them in.”
—Richard Betts, University of Exeter
There has not been a flake of snow so far this winter here in New York City on Saturday, the fifteenth of December. Forty years ago, we would have had several feet of snow by this time and the city would have made a sort of path along the sidewalks, piling the snow up on either side higher than my head. We walked along unable to see anything but the walls of snow until we got to the intersection where the snow had been cleared away enough for us to cross the street. I can attest to “global heating” here in this city.
The article referenced above from the Common Dreams website gives a very good account of the distressing state of affairs. It mentions the “suicidally slow pace at which world leaders are working to confront the crisis that—if immediate and bold action is not taken—threatens to render the planet uninhabitable for future generations.”
That article ends with this: “the “Extinction Rebellion movement—which is demanding that governments reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2025—has spread to 35 countries in just six months.”
Emissions spewing into the atmosphere
The United States is not among those countries and the article reports that the Trump administration here in the United States is actually attempting to increase production of fossil fuels! This is very frightening.
It is encouraging to see in the article that “people around the world are mobilizing around ambitions solutions like a Green New Deal, which is rapidly gaining support in the U.S. Congress.” Let us hope that the United States does adopt and implement such a program.