Navigating the climate crisis elicits both “gut-wrenching despair” and hope for the future, say researchers, raising the alarm over global heating while continuing to record progress.
“I really very genuinely understand the gut-wrenching despair that arises when it feels like nothing we have done on climate has had an effect,” climate researcher and commentator Ketan Joshi recently posted on LinkedIn.
But climate projections lack alternative scenarios for comparison, Joshi writes: “Part of why we feel this is because we don’t have a parallel universe in which no one did anything to compare to—so all we see is a number going up and up.”
“But you should always remember that effort has impact,” he adds. “The planet would inarguably be an even hotter place right now if no one had done anything for the past two decades.”
In a recent TED Talk, Johan Rockström, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, similarly describes the perils of the changing climate as calamitous tipping points near.
“The earth system scientists and climate scientists are getting seriously nervous,” he warns, describing climate impacts on GDP—projected at an 18% loss worth US$38 trillion by 2050—amid lethal environmental impacts like droughts, floods, and heatwaves.
“It’s starting to hurt—both in human social costs and in economic costs.”
Rockström points to the warming that has already occurred, warning that humans have released enough carbon emissions to make some outcomes unavoidable. Five tipping points—critical thresholds where a small temperature rise triggers major changes in Earth’s natural systems—are likely to be crossed at 1.5°C, the temperature limit originally set to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.
But while “the science is clear” and “the window is rapidly closing,” continues Rockström, “there is still some light in the window.”
“We actually have evidence that we have reached a pivotal point not only in terms of risk but in terms of opportunity to transform the world towards a safe and just future for humanity.”
This calls for exponential change geared towards holistically governing the planet. It’s a daunting prospect, he says, “but what choice do we have when on the line is the future of our children on planet Earth?”
And we have the solutions, Rockström adds—we already recognize the ambitious action needed, like transitioning off fossil fuels and adopting circular business models.
People across the world care about nature and trust climate science, he added. Implementing the solutions is not only doable, but can ensure a more healthy, stable, secure future.
“This means, dear friends, that solving the planetary crisis is not only necessary, it is possible, and we all win if we succeed.”
Joshi’s post concludes with a similar call for sustaining progress in the face of despair.
“Over the next few decades, we need to keep it up to both turn the curve downwards, and then make it drop as fast as we can manage,” he writes.
