NASA and NOAA recently declared that 2019 was the second hottest year in recorded history (since 1880). The only year hotter? 2016. Whew (also RIP). Scientists measured ocean heat content, which averaged 0.95 degrees Celsius (1.71 F) above the pre-industrial average. The rising temperatures are contributing to extreme weather events and the loss of ice mass at the Northern and Southern poles. You can read more about their consensus and findings here and here.
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Welcome to a TED talk titled “Everything Bad Just Gets Worse.” Looking back at 2019, it’s not difficult to connect the temperature rise with current climate anomalies, such as fires, cyclones, and floods. A few months ago the Amazon Rainforest wildfires caught the globe’s attention as one of the most biodiverse terrestrial ecosystems felt the heat; now into 2020, the Australian bushfires have similarly drawn attention for the devastation of an estimated 1 billion native wildlife. Although the warming is not evenly distributed on the Earth, regions on every content experienced record-high average land temperatures. No continent is left out and many species are affected.
Related: The Amazon Rainforest is Burning and it is So Not Lit
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The upside to these climate anomalies is their power to bring local and global communities together to donate, volunteer, and speak out for the environment and those disproportionately facing the consequences of climate-altering human activities.
The goal set by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is to keep global warming below 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures at worst, and 1.5 degrees C for the least long-term, irreversible consequences to the climate system, ecosystems, and their services. At the current rate of increase in warming, 1.5 C will be reached as early as 2030 to 2052. In short, we’re not doing enough to halt the climate crisis and we’ll be feeling the burn for generations to come.
Related: A Summary of the UN Climate Action Summit
What’s next? To make the next few decades a little less hot, we need to pressure governments to take action, support NGOs and scientists and keep climate change at the forefront of public discourse. Humanity needs to recognize how powerful its choices are in this Anthropocene. For a little inspiration and fuel, David Attenborough on four ways to save our planet.
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It’s not too late to update your resolution. Here’s to entering a new decade and hoping it doesn’t beat out the 2010s for hottest ever recorded.