A group of prominent scientists says we have three years to save the planet from irreversible destruction

Leanna Garfield.

A planet devastated by climate change may seem like a distant future. But Earth is already experiencing effects today.

Globally, the mean rate of sea level rise increased 50% in the last two decades. In 2017, temperatures have already reached their highest levels in history in some areas, from California to Vietnam. And the past three years were the hottest on record. 

In a new open letter, six prominent scientists and diplomats, including former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres and physicist Stefan Rahmstorf, wrote that the world has approximately three years before the worst effects of climate change take hold. Published June 28, the letter urges governments, businesses, scientists, and citizens to address the world's greenhouse-gas emissions now.

Read the Business Insider story by Leanna Garfield - “A group of prominent scientists says we have three years to save the planet from irreversible destruction.”

These experts say we have three years to save the planet from the worst effects of climate change

A planet devastated by climate change may seem like a distant future. But Earth is already experiencing effects today.

Six scientists and diplomats have published
 a letter urging governments, businesses and
others to address climate issues.

Globally, the mean rate of sea level rise increased 50% in the last two decades. In 2017, temperatures have already reached their highest levels in history in some areas, from California to Vietnam. And the past three years were the hottest on record.

In a new open letter, six prominent scientists and diplomats, including former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres and physicist Stefan Rahmstorf, wrote that the world has approximately three years before the worst effects of climate change take hold. Published June 28, the letter urges governments, businesses, scientists, and citizens to address the world's greenhouse-gas emissions now.

If emissions can be permanently lowered by 2020, global temperatures will likely avoid reaching an irreversible threshold, they wrote. Impacts would include rapid deforestation, floods from rising sea levels, and unpredictable weather shifts that could ravage agriculture and affect life on the coasts, where the vast majority of people live.

Read Leanna Garfield’s story on the World Economic Forum website - “These experts say we have three years to save the planet from the worst effects of climate change.”

State's temperatures are becoming unmanagable

Parts of north-western NSW could spend more than a third of the year above 35 degrees Celsius by 2070, according to new projections released by the NSW Government.

That fact has been shown in detailed modelling, produced through a partnership with the NSW and ACT governments and the University of NSW Climate Change Research Centre.

It suggests that by 2070 average temperatures in the state will have risen by 2.1 degrees.

Importantly, what needs to be noted is the fact put 35 degrees as the base number and so if it creeps up to 38 degrees, which is quite possible, that will be 100 degrees Fahrenheit, for those still working in the former regime.

A story on the ABC headed: “Climate change in NSW: New projections reveal likely local impacts of rising temperatures” explains about the detailed modelling.

It says: “The projections map out for the first time how different parts of New South Wales could be affected by climate change in the near and distant future.”