New Climate Change Report Puts Earth At 'Tipping Point'

Monday, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a scientific body assembled by The United Nations, released its 6th study on climate change.

Scientists from 195 countries published their findings after looking at more than 14,000 studies.

The report is the most complete and thorough assessment of climate change, it’s implications for the future, and the potential for mitigation. The last report was 8 years ago, and helped lead to the creation of the Paris Climate Agreement.

This most recent report to put it bluntly - is dire.

Human caused global warming is already affecting every region across the globe. Surface temperatures across the planet will continue to increase, and extreme weather conditions will become increasingly common.

Even if nations begin to drastically cut emissions TODAY - we will still see temperatures rise by roughly 1 and a half degrees Celsius, just over the next 2 decades. If little or no action is taken, that figures rises to 3 or 4 degrees Celsius by the end of the decade.

That means more wildfires - more floods - greater sea level rise - and droughts. Endangered would be another estimated 1 billion human lives.

This hour we'll discuss the latest report from the IPCC, and drive down locally to what this could mean for us here in Northeast Ohio.

Stick around as later in the hour we'll meet another of this year's Anisfield Wolf Book Award Winners. This time, it’s the winner of this year’s poetry prize.

- Cyrus Taylor, Case Western Reserve University

- Miranda Leppla, Vice President of Energy Policy, The Ohio Environmental Council

- Philip Taylor, Perkins Professor of Physics, Case Western Reserve University

- Aaron Wilson, Research Scientist, Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, The Ohio State University

- Victoria Chang, Author and Winner of The 2021 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Poetry