Global warming will reach disastrous levels in just 12 years, if the world fails to take “rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes”, according to a recent UN report.
The report, issued by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), says global warming should be limited to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels to avoid extreme climate and risky living conditions.
It also concluded the 2015 Paris accord – the agreement the US is in the process of withdrawing from – is no longer enough to limit global warming.
But with the US under Donald Trump‘s leadership rolling back environmental regulations and increasing fossil fuel use, is it possible to avert the coming climate disaster?
“That doesn’t mean that we’re all going to sit around and wait for President Trump to tell the rest of the world that the US is not going to participate,” says Gina McCarthy, former administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency.
She adds that instead of finding someone to be blamed for the dire situation the world is facing, we should look forward to making progress.
“We can but it’s going to be not about pointing fingers in the past but about thinking about a low carbon future, as a future that’s healthier, that’s safer, where our national security is protected, and where individuals can have the kind of clean air and water that they need to survive,” says McCarthy.
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Source: Al Jazeera News
