The report, written and released by the United Nations-led
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and formally known
as the IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate, details
the most up-to-date understanding of climate change, its causes, how it
will continue to impact us on Earth and what we can do about it. The
report looks to 2100 to see both where we will be if we continue on as we
currently are, or if major changes are made to mitigate contributing
factors like carbon dioxide emissions.
The main takeaway from the report? "We're seeing that climate change
impacts are already happening, were seeing that they're happening at a
faster pace than before," Ben Orlove, a professor of public policy at
Columbia University and a lead author on the report, said to Space.com at
an Explorer's Club event in New York on Sept. 25, where scientists,
including authors of the report, discussed the report and its implications.
This harsh reality is "true in the oceans, sea levels are rising, the oceans
are turning more acid[ic], they're losing the oxygen that's required to
support life. We're seeing glaciers melting on every continent of the world.
Antarctica and Greenland [are] also losing their ice. These are serious
problems," Orlove added. "We've been able to look ahead to 2100 and to
distinguish what happens if we cut back on greenhouse gases soon or if
we do not. And there's an enormous difference. It'd be much easier to
cope with the changes that will come by 2100 if they're smaller."
"This report is built on the science we need to guide us in adapting to a
changing environment and, most importantly, to avert a planetary
disaster … The findings of the new IPCC report need to be known and not
only known but understood by me and all of my colleagues in government
and politics around the world," Katrín Jakobsdóttir, the prime minister of
Iceland, said at the event.
The report was clear in showing how, if we continue behaving in a
"business-as-usual" fashion, climate change and its consequences will
continue to grow to unprecedented extremes. "The report does not
prescribe telling anyone what to do. But we can show the consequences of
those actions," Orlove said.
Tropical storms becoming both more severe and more frequent will be just
one of many realities that we will face. It is apparent in the report that,
seeing as we are already experiencing the consequences of climate
change, there is no way to avoid its effects.
