Just in time for SOTU, new UN report dials up deadly impact of climate change, but ‘trusting the science’ is so 2019

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Talk about poor timing, with Russia President Vladimir Putin escalating the possibility of nuclear war on Sunday by placing his nuclear forces on an increased state of readiness known as “special regime of combat duty,” in response to the reaction to Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, a new report from a United Nations climate panel is warning of the deadly impacts of climate change.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report warned of health risks from climate change — both now and in the future — including from heat exposure, disease, and mental health issues, according to The Hill.

The findings noted that extreme heat events around the globe have already resulted in deaths, saying that since the last time IPCC report in 2014, there have been more extreme events including “heat-related human mortality” that have been attributed to climate change, the political news outlet reported, adding, “The panel’s report described major additional risks in the decades to come, particularly between the years 2040 and 2100.”

“Climate change and related extreme events will significantly increase ill health and premature deaths from the near- to long-term,” a report summary stated.

Increased mental health issues such as anxiety and stress were among the concerns highlighted. as the panel warned that in some cases, things are worse than previously projected.

More from The Hill:

“The extent and magnitude of climate change impacts are larger than estimated in previous assessments,” the summary said, particularly highlighting “substantial damages” and “increasingly irreversible losses” to ecosystems and “shifts in seasonal timing.”

“We’re seeing adverse impacts being much more widespread and being much more negative than expected in prior reports than expected at the current 1.09 degrees that we have,” Camille Parmesan, one of the report’s authors, told reporters, referring to the current level of warming compared to pre-industrial levels.

Parmesan added that the world is seeing impacts that it previously did not expect to see at the current level of warming, such as “diseases emerging into new areas” and “the first extinctions of species due to climate change.”

 

You know, because that’s what the science shows, according to the report: “The cumulative scientific evidence is unequivocal: Climate change is a threat to human well-being and planetary health.”

Yet, in addition to the possibility of radiation fallout from a nuclear exchange overshadowing the report, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention opting to relax mask guidelines for up to 70 percent of the country on Friday has already skeptical Americans further distrusting “the science.”

The timing of the CDC action is highly suspect, coming just days before an embattled President Joe Biden goes before the nation to deliver his State of the Union address. Beset with the world around him growing increasingly chaotic and domestic trouble as far as the eye can see, from inflation, soaring gas prices, and supply chain issues, Biden’s seeing record low approval ratings.

The CDC move follows recent polling showing that the public’s resolve “to combat the coronavirus pandemic is waning,” as the New York Times characterized the results. The midterm elections are growing larger in the windshield, and Democrats are expected to take a beating for mask mandates and other pandemic requirements, particularly in schools. With the polling suggesting the party’s in for a major drubbing in November, a dramatic shift is underway.

Democrat officials are suddenly dropping mask mandates, to include in schools, at a much quicker rate that Putin’s army is advancing on the capital city of Kyiv. The state of New York set to drop it’s mandate on Wednesday, the day after Biden addresses the country.

Hell, even Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is lifting her rigid mask mandate ahead of the SOTU, not eager to have the American people see them all sitting there in the House of Representatives with masks on because of her dictate.

“Individuals may choose to mask at any time, but it is no longer a requirement,” Capitol Physician Brian Monahan informed lawmakers.

Making masks optional puts hypocritical Democrats in an awkward position, and the nation will see Tuesday evening just how committed they are in to the masks they want to force everyone else to wear.

Either way, it’s now painfully obvious that it was always about politics and control, and never about the science.

Special Climate Envoy John Kerry responded to the IPCC report by painting a “dire” picture and calling for stronger action.

“Today’s IPCC report paints a dire picture of the impacts already occurring because of a warmer world and the terrible risks to our planet if we continue to ignore science,” he said, according to The Hill.

“Denial and delay are not strategies, they are a recipe for disaster,” Kerry added. “The best scientists in the world have shown us that we must accelerate adaptation action, with urgency and at scale.  Our efforts to date have been too small and too fragmented to match the scale of the impacts we are already experiencing, let alone the threats we expect in the future.”

Tom Tillison

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