Dr. Francis places the Arctic in the context of observed changes in the global climate system. She said: “In general, we are seeing an acceleration in the circulation of water in the atmosphere, which means heavier downpours are occurring more frequently.
“But we’re seeing an increase in droughts as well. So while we’re bringing in more moisture from the Arctic, we’re also getting more evaporation from the warming oceans around the world. Oceans. It’s actually a much bigger problem because it’s warming.”The Arctic is definitely part of that story, too.
“But the further south you go from the North Pole, the greater the influence from the nearby ocean.”
These impacts on communities around the world are reflected in a recent report on the reinsurance industry by Munich RE, which states that “catastrophic floods, extreme storms, and two earthquakes caused a total loss of around US$120 billion. “Loss has occurred” and “68 percent of the total loss, or 7.6 billion US dollars, has been a loss.” Percentage of insured losses due to severe thunderstorms, floods, and forest fires.
boldly
Regarding the extent to which this type of hard science is receiving attention from policymakers, Dr. Francis said: “This is a topic that’s being brought up in the next election as a priority rather than an afterthought, so I think everything is helping to drive policy in the right direction.”
We are measuring increasing evidence of the effects of increasing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere…
“This is really uncontroversial because we scientists have been talking about these kinds of effects for decades. Some of them are the very serious effects of Arctic warming.”
Dr Francis continued: “We have to reverse this warming trend, so we have to find ways to stop emissions of carbon gases, especially carbon dioxide and methane.”
“That’s the only way to mitigate these impacts. If we don’t, the situation will get worse and worse. So policymakers need to act fast. They need to act boldly. We need to get this done. We just lack the political will at the moment.”
policy makers
With COP29 scheduled to be hosted by oil nation Azerbaijan this November, the chances of meaningful international commitments to significantly reduce emissions remain very low.
Another notable topic at recent COPs is geoengineering, or proposals to engineer cooler planets. However, these are highly controversial and many scientists perceive them to be a dangerous distraction.
Although Dr. Francis is not a supporter of geoengineering, he agrees that research needs to be done to further highlight the dangers of these cooling schemes.
“This study really helps to increase the level of certainty about how that inadvertent part affects them, and compares that cost with using it for further switching to renewable energy. “We know that renewable energy is working very well and is increasing rapidly,” she observed.
“Also, to help the public understand why this is potentially a bad idea and why they need to switch to renewable energy sooner… By making that clear, policy makers can I think it might help you understand why the path to geoengineering isn’t actually ‘makes no sense and is a waste of money.’ ”
this author
Nick Brees is the author of “.COPOUT – How governments have failed their people on climate change” will be published in 2024 by Ad Lib Books and is also the host of the ClimateGenn podcast. he is going to report ecologist From COP29 in November.
