The most beautiful apocalypse you could imagine

This week I read that “the Arctic is on fire”. It’s literally true, and visible from space, apparently. And it’s burning in a way it hasn’t for at least 10,000 years. It seems the heatwave currently scorching Europe is also melting Arctic ice in frighteningly rapid ways. And you know what? I felt almost nothing.

Greenland's icebergs.

I’m not asking to be absolved for that, but you know I’m far from alone. And that, in miniature, captures the great hopelessness of climate change: that while we might occasionally feel overwhelmed into inaction by the sheer size and seriousness of the problem, it’s probably more honest to say that, as a society, we have simply ceased to be emotionally engaged by it.

Read the story from The Age by Waleed Aly - “The most beautiful apocalypse you could imagine.”

Climate change: How do we know?

The Earth's climate has changed throughout history. Just in the last 650,000 years there have been seven cycles of glacial advance and retreat, with the abrupt end of the last ice age about 7,000 years ago marking the beginning of the modern climate era — and of human civilization. Most of these climate changes are attributed to very small variations in Earth’s orbit that change the amount of solar energy our planet receives.

This graph, based on the comparison of atmospheric samples
contained in ice cores and more recent direct measurements,
provides evidence that atmospheric CO2 has increased
 since the Industrial Revolution.

The current warming trend is of particular significance because most of it is extremely likely (greater than 95 percent probability) to be the result of human activity since the mid-20th century and proceeding at a rate that is unprecedented over decades to millennia.¹

Earth-orbiting satellites and other technological advances have enabled scientists to see the big picture, collecting many different types of information about our planet and its climate on a global scale. This body of data, collected over many years, reveals the signals of a changing climate.

Read the NASA story - “Climate change: How do we know?”