New IPCC Report: Time is running out

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a new report two days ago. For those of us who follow this topic closely there was not a lot new. But the message is getting louder and the underlying theme of all of the IPCC reports is clear: time is running out, and many of the effects of climate change are already here – as many readers of The Pollinator know firsthand.

Among the 270 scientists from 67 countries is Dr. Rodel Lasco, a good friend of LWCCN. We reached out to him for his thoughts:

The IPCC is the world’s leading scientific body on climate change. After almost eight years, the IPCC will release its latest findings on the impacts of global warming and how we can adapt to them. Let’s listen!

The latest report of the IPCC tells us the likely impacts of a changing climate around the world. Our task is to look at the report and find out how its findings apply to our country. As Christians, the report will guide us on how to care for creation more effectively.

The report is not short – it comes in at almost 4,000 pages. If you really want to, you can access the whole thing here, but you might be better off starting with the much shorter and relatively accessible Summary for Policy Makers.

For those who want a quick overview, here is what the New York Times has to say:

The report released Monday by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a body of experts convened by the United Nations, is the most detailed look yet at the threats posed by global warming. It concludes that nations aren’t doing nearly enough to protect cities, farms and coastlines from the hazards that climate change has already unleashed, such as record droughts and rising seas, let alone from the even greater disasters in store as the planet keeps heating up.

…the report is “an atlas of human suffering and a damning indictment of failed climate leadership,” said António Guterres, the United Nations secretary general. “With fact upon fact, this report reveals how people and the planet are getting clobbered by climate change.”