Climate Change is a Class Issue

On October 8, 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change put out its latest report, outlining the climate effects of 1.5ºC and 2ºC warming, the efforts that will have to be taken for us to hit those targets, and how current emissions-reduction pledges get us nowhere near where we need to be. But it also woke the world up to the need to act — at least for a week or two.

The report outlined how our transportation, land-use, building, energy, food, and other systems need to be redesigned from the ground up to reduce emissions and prepare for a warmer world. We have just 12 years to slash emissions by 45 per cent below 2010 levels and hit net zero by 2050 if we’re to have a chance at keeping warming below 1.5ºC. An infographic from the World Resources Institute effectively outlines the difference between 1.5ºC and 2ºC, and, quite honestly, the 1.5ºC scenario looks scary enough — I don’t know why we’d want to risk hitting 2ºC or higher. Yet, the reaction to the report makes it seem like that’s exactly where we’re headed.

Read the story from Radical Urbanist by Paris Marx - “Climate Change is a Class Issue.”