Finding Hope in the IPCC Report on Climate Change

First written in June 2022 for my blog, a reflection on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Sixth Assessment Report (Working Group III)

Welcome! I am Jessica Hetherington, and this newsletter is about faith and climate action. You can subscribe by clicking here:

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Finding Hope in the IPCC Report on Climate Change

What I know about the climate crisis scares me. I know that we are headed for disaster as greenhouse gas emissions spew forth and global warming rises precipitously. I know that the CO₂ that is emitted from the burning of fossil fuels is a major part of the problem, and also that the methane from cows is a problem, too. I know that the minimum warming we are headed to is 1.5ºC and that it is already causing extreme weather events around the world, and that 3ºC is where we are actually headed and will spell catastrophe.

But other than these few details, I don’t know much else. Like most ordinary people, I am not that familiar with the data around the problem of climate change, or the solutions that are possible to slow global warming.

I have decided that I need to change that. As scary as it all is, if I am to become at all effective in dealing with the climate crisis, then I need to know more about the problem of climate change, and its potential solutions than I currently do.

In early April, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its latest report, called “Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change.” What better way to become more familiar, than to go right to the source?

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