Climate crisis reaches a new climax: 2024 brings record temperatures!

Climate crisis reaches a new climax: 2024 brings record temperatures!

The earth breaks records: 2024 will go down in history as a hottest year!

The world is on the abyss! In 2024, the alarming brand of 1.5 degrees Celsius exceeded above the pre -industrial level - an unprecedented moment in the history of mankind! According to the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) of the European Union, the temperatures have increased to a level that modern people have never experienced.

"The development is simply incredible", explains Carlo Buontempo, director of C3S, and points out that every month in 2024 was the warmest or second warmest since the beginning of the records. The average temperature reached shocking 1.6 degrees Celsius above the level of 1850-1900, which before the massive output of CO2 by the combustion of fossil fuels.

a dangerous trend

Although the 1.5-degree mark has not yet exceeded, C3S warns that we are dangerously close to it. Samantha Burgess, strategic climate manager at Copernicus, explains: "The main reason for these record temperatures is the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere." These come from the combustion of coal, oil and gas and lead to an unstoppable increase in temperatures, also in the oceans, while the sea levels rise and melt glaciers.

Compared to the previous year, the temperature of 2023 exceeded one eighth degree Celsius in 2024 - an unusually large jump! Until a few years ago, temperature records were only exceeded by hundredths of a second. The past ten years have been the hottest since the beginning of the records and could be the hottest of the past 125,000 years!

global disasters

The effects of climate change are visible everywhere! In California, devastating forest fires rage that cost at least 10 people their lives and destroyed hundreds of houses. There were also catastrophic fires in Bolivia and Venezuela, while Nepal, Sudan and Spain were haunted by torrential floods. Heat waves in Mexico and Saudi Arabia demanded thousands of victims!

The weather extreme is increasing: storms and heavy rainfalls are reinforced by the warmer atmosphere, which can store more water. In 2024 the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere reached a record value!

Despite these alarming developments, there are no political will in many countries to reduce emissions. The designated US President Donald Trump described climate change as a "dizziness", although the scientific community corresponds to the worldwide that human activities are the cause and will have serious consequences if not traded.

"The crossing of the 1.5-degree brand should be a wake-up call for political decision-makers to finally act," says Chukwumerije Okekeke, professor of global climate nance at the University of Bristol. "Despite all the warnings of the scientists, the nations continue to fail to meet their obligations."

-transmitted by West-Ost-Medien