The 2010s amounted to "a decade lost" for slowing climate change, as nations around the world failed to substantially rein-in the heat-trapping emissions generated by power plants, factories, cars and trucks, and other sources that burn fossil fuels, a United Nations report said Tuesday.
The Earth's average temperature is now on track to soar by close to 4 degrees Celsius – or 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit – by the end of the century compared to pre-industrial levels. Scientists have broadly concluded that the planet needs to keep warming to within 2 degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, to avoid the most catastrophic impacts of climate change.
Rapid rates of warming, meanwhile, are already essentially locked-in: Even ambitious new efforts to slash carbon emissions, as represented in nations' commitments under the 2015 Paris climate accord, will still produce 2.9 to 3.4 degrees of warming.
The report, from the UN's World Meteorological Organization, renewed calls for yet more urgent action to drastically reduce emissions around the world.
"There is no sign of a slowdown, let alone a decline, in greenhouse gases concentration in the atmosphere despite all the commitments under the Paris Agreement on Climate Change," WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said in a statement. "We need to translate the commitments into action and increase the level of ambition for the sake of the future welfare of mankind."
Despite rapid growth in renewable energy sources such as wind and solar, sharp declines in coal-fired power generation in developed nations, and recent high-profile investments in electric vehicles and EV charging infrastructure, global emissions are next expected to peak by the end of the next decade.
"The effects of climate policies have been too small to offset the impact of key drivers of emissions such as economic growth and population growth," the report said, characterizing the finding as a "rather bleak fact."
Already, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is comparable to 3-5 million years ago, when temperatures were roughly 2-3 degrees warmer and sea levels were 30-60 feet higher, the WMO said.
"In this critical period, the world must deliver concrete, stepped-up action on emissions," Inger Andersen, executive director of the UN Environment Programme said in a statement. "We face a stark choice: set in motion the radical transformations we need now, or face the consequences of a planet radically altered by climate change."
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The explosive device sent to CNN in New York was an "effort to terrorize," said New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. Investigators described the device as an apparent "live" pipe bomb at a press conference outside the Time Warner Center, which houses CNN's New York studios and was partially evacuated Wednesday morning when the mailroom discovered the suspicious package.
Markets may have closed off their lows of the day, but Jack Kramer, co-founder and co-CEO of MarketSnacks, said there's still plenty that could weigh on investors over the next year.
The midterm "wave" may be neither blue nor red ー but green. In two weeks, North Dakota and Michigan ー which both already allow cannabis for medicinal use ー will vote for legalized recreational marijuana. On the non-recreational side of the issue, Missouri and Utah will potentially make a push toward medicinal cannabis. Depending on the outcome, these states may send a message to the nation ーwhich is slowly getting greener.
When the anti-substance abuse platform "Truth Initiative" began in 2000, the smoking rate for teens was 23 percent ー almost two decades later, it stands at 5 percent. And now, after major inroads with young smokers, the organization is shifting its efforts to another pressing danger facing teens, according to its managing director Mary Dominguez.
The Trump administration has declared it may change the legal definition of gender, but GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis thinks that whatever the White House decides, the damage has already been done.
Women on both sides of the aisle may be enraged, but that anger is still sharply divided. Women are running for office in record numbers this year ー yet the outcome hasn't been the same for Republicans and Democrats, said author and political columnist Rebecca Traister.
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President Erdogan of Turkey demanded action from Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for the "premeditated" and "savage" murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, as SoftBank's CEO became the latest top executive to pull back from Saudi Arabia's investor summit.
Billionaire activist Tom Steyer is not apologizing for his campaign to impeach Donald Trump. In an interview with Cheddar Monday, he dismissed criticism from certain Democrats that focusing on impeachment will energize the Republican base. "Standing up for the Constitution and the American people" should be more important than campaign tactics, he said.
