2018 was the year of climate change
Posted by Josh Taylor / January 2, 2019
David Leonhardt, New York Times op-ed columnist, listed his top stories of the year. What beat out Facebook and the Trump scandals? Climate change, of course:
A global heat wave. Extreme rainstorms. Severe droughts. Rapidly intensifying Gulf Coast storms. The deadliest wildfire in California history. And a presidential administration that’s trying to make the problem worse.
In another article, he chronicles the harsh realities of climate change:
In 2018, heat waves killed people in Montreal, Karachi, Tokyo and elsewhere. Extreme rain battered North Carolina and the Indian state of Kerala. The Horn of Africa suffered from drought. Large swaths of the American West burned. When I was in Portland, Ore., this summer, the air quality — from nearby wildfires — was among the worst in the world. It would have been healthier to be breathing outdoors in Beijing or Mumbai.
The majority of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions come from electricity generation and transportation. We could cut generation-related emissions by two-thirds or more simply by ending the use of coal and making more use of renewables (whose prices have fallen drastically), without requiring that Americans consume less power. We could almost surely reduce transportation emissions by a comparable amount by raising mileage and increasing the use of electric vehicles, even if we didn’t reduce the number of miles we drive each year.
The Seattle Times suggests that climate change should be our nation’s biggest priority. The Guardian says the same thing, that it’s time for politicians to make stark choices.
More news.
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