...99 percent confident that the world really was getting warmer and that there was a high degree of probability that it was due to human-made greenhouse gases.
James HansenRead
How long have we got? We have to stabilize emissions of carbon dioxide within a decade, or temperatures will warm by more than one degree... We don't have much time left.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The urgency of addressing carbon emissions to prevent significant global warming is critical and time-sensitive.
James Hansen's quote emphasizes the immediate and pressing need to stabilize carbon dioxide emissions within the next decade to avert a catastrophic rise in global temperatures. He warns that failure to act swiftly may result in a temperature increase exceeding one degree Celsius, which poses significant risks to the planet's climate stability.
Themes
ClimateEmissionsUrgencyGlobal WarmingCarbon Dioxide
In practice
Example use cases
During an environmental conference, this quote can highlight the urgency of action needed against climate change.
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Rising carbon price is essential to 'decarbonize' the economy - to remove the nation towards the era beyond fossil fuels.
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We have at most ten years - not ten years to decide upon action, but ten years to alter fundamentally the trajectory of global greenhouse emissions... We are near a tipping point, a point of no return, beyond which the built in momentum and feedbacks will carry us to levels of climate change with staggering consequences for humanity and all of the residents of this planet.
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'Goals' and 'caps' on carbon emissions are practically worthless, if coal emissions continue, because of the exceedingly long lifetime of carbon dioxide in the air.
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