The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in the United Nations notified the world about the destructions climate change would cause if the nations do not work to reverse the carbon emissions in the atmosphere.
The panel said the greenhouse gas emission rates need to be lowered in order for less devastation in the future, but the current rate will generate droughts, deadly storms, sea-levels rising and possibly climate refugees. They predicted governments have 12 years to help lower CO2 emissions before major devastations occur.
The panel referred to the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, which hopes to keep global temperatures below two degrees celsius and possibly keep it at a steady one point five degrees celsius.
Dorian Burnette, a professor of earth sciences at the University of Memphis, said the statement the IPCC gave are different than what has been explained in the media.
"There were some inaccurate headlines in the media saying something like “we have only 10 years to act.” That isn’t what the IPCC said," Burnette said. "They evaluated how close we are to having a global temperature of 1.5 degrees C above pre-industrial levels. This value was targeted because it would keep global temperatures well below the 2 degrees C, which is where serious impacts have a higher chance of occurring according to global change studies."
Burnette said if the world misses the target then the chances of dreadful events will be higher, and even harder to bring down.
He said in order to bring emissions down ordinary people can take steps to help lower it or keep steady, but the world as a whole must be involved.
"Little things like driving fuel efficient vehicles, having efficient appliances, carpooling, minimizing electricity use during peak hours of the day, etc. will lower your carbon footprint and save you money," Burnette said. "The problem though is really a global one and will require a global solution to make a dent in global emissions that will impact the global temperature."
Burnette said major companies in America are attempting to bring down the emissions, but reaching the Paris Agreement goal seems far.
"Unfortunately, President Trump is leaving the deal, but a number of companies in the U.S. have stepped forward saying they plan to continue to lower their own emissions," Burnette said. "Realistically though in order to never get past the 1.5 degrees C value, we would have to start decarbonizing immediately and more aggressively. This seems unlikely to me. We could overshoot 1.5 degrees C temporarily and then come back down as technology improves though (e.g., carbon sequestration, direct air capture, or some sort of geo-engineering efforts)."
