“Not now, El Niño,” pleads the astrophysicist-turned climate scientist, Kate Marvel. On top of the fossil fuel crisis and conflicts derailing the world, it appears that Mother Nature is about to provide the umpteenth lesson that we mess with the grand cycles of the Earth to our peril.
German scientists are warning that global warming is accelerating, that the planet could heat by as much as 3 C over pre-industrial levels by 2050 — just 24 years from now — and that we could exceed 5 C of warming by the century’s end.
This should be top headline news. It should alarm us all. It should spur politicians to urgent action.
WASHINGTON—The popular 1984 song “2 Minutes to Midnight” by Iron Maiden—which highlighted humanity’s march toward nuclear war—needs an update to 85 seconds. Because that’s how close the world now stands to human-made global catastrophe, according to the experts behind the Doomsday Clock. The update might not be the catchiest tune, but the alarm has to be raised somehow, as scientists say the situation facing the world is more dangerous than ever.
Colossal fossil Shell and industrial conglomerate Mitsubishi are trying to sell off their shares in the $40-billion LNG Canada liquefied natural gas megaproject, reinforcing predictions that 2026 would be the year that an oversupplied global market for the climate-polluting gas begins to hit home.
