…Globally, the average temperature is already one degree Celsius higher than in pre-industrial times. The goal of the global community is to stop warming at less than two degrees, preferably at 1.5. At least that’s what the 2015 UN climate conference in Paris decided. But action must follow. ALL MEASURES TOTALIZED, to which states have so far committed, IT WOULD BE 2.5 to 4 DEGREES WARMER!
What difference does half a degree mean? As the current report of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) shows, the differences between plus 2 and plus 1.5 degrees would be greater than previously assumed. The coral reefs would die to 99 percent, the Arctic sea ice would melt drastically, and about twice as many species would be threatened with extinction. This does not even take into account the fact that at some point entire climate systems such as the Gulf Stream could collapse. At just 1.5 degrees, the ice melt in Greenland and the Antarctic could become irreversible…Quotation: Helge May, “Naturschutz heute”, magazine of the NABU / Naturschutzbund Deutschland e.V., page 7, autumn 2018.