The American Meteorological Society's annual State of the Climate report is out — and it's not good news, as The Boston Globe detailed.
What's happening?
According to the report, 2023 was the planet's hottest year on record. Sea levels also hit a record high, along with the highest recorded ocean temperatures. As the report noted, as the sea level rose for the 12th straight year, it now sits 4 inches higher than it was 30 years ago.
That trend is expected to continue as long as we continue burning dirty energy sources like gas and oil, releasing massive amounts of planet-overheating air pollution into the atmosphere.
"Almost every variable you look at, there's a record broken, and it's not a surprise," said Sarah Das, a climate scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. "We continue to pump planet-heating gases into the atmosphere at unprecedented rates, year after year, and that has consequences."
Why is the climate report important?
As the planet continues to overheat, glaciers will continue to melt and sea levels will continue to rise. This will cause widespread flooding in coastal communities — and if left unchecked, it will cause cities such as Miami and New York to eventually become uninhabitable.
In addition, rising global temperatures have been linked to the spread of diseases, unpredictable extreme weather events, many crops becoming ungrowable, and, of course, heat-related deaths.
"We are experiencing a warming world as I speak, and the indicators and impacts are seen throughout the planet," Derek Arndt, director of the National Centers for Environmental Information, said in a statement. "The report is another signpost to present and future generations."
What's being done about planetary overheating?
The main thing that we must do to prevent even more catastrophic overheating is to stop burning fossil fuels. The good news is that governments are beginning to invest in clean, renewable energy sources like wind and solar. The only question is whether they will make the switch quickly enough to prevent even worse environmental consequences.
The companies that profit from dirty energy are working hard to ensure that they are allowed to continue destroying the planet in order to line their shareholders' pockets — whether or not our elected officials and lawmakers have the political will to stop them remains to be seen.
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