2022 was a year in which many extreme weather records were broken, as the impacts of climate change become increasingly evident and catastrophic around the globe.
The world will have to face more of these climate extremes in the future if we do not reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero.
The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warns that human activity continues to dramatically affect the planet's climate. Average surface temperatures have already risen by at least 1.1°C above pre-industrial levels, thanks to human inputs of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, particularly carbon dioxide and methane.
The world in the future will have to deal with more such extreme climate events, since we are not reducing greenhouse gas emissions to zero as humanity and carbon continues to accumulate in the atmosphere, so global temperatures continue to rise. It has been estimated that climate change could cost $178 trillion over the next 50 years.
The solutions are preparation and mitigation.
(a) Preparation is something we need to do now to prevent the worst as a society, at the individual, local and international level - if we wait for the extreme weather event to occur or wait for the scientists' warning a few days before the natural disaster occurs to prepare, then it is probably too late.
(b) Mitigation, that is, the reduction of climate change, to be achieved by reducing our emissions at the individual, collective, national and international levels.
The options are narrowing, we have a big fight ahead of us and we need more drastic action, solutions and determination from our leaders. But we also have the means to do it!
See more of this article (in Greek) https://www.powergame.gr/scripta-manent/366731/anaskopisi-2022-i-chronia-ton-rekor-sta-akraia-kairika-fainomena/