On Monday, August 9, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report on Climate Change was released. Five possible models of our future were presented, none of which were particularly encouraging. In the best of these possible future worlds, we would have to deeply cut use of fossil fuels, and even so the temperatures would rise at least  1.5 degrees Centigrade (2.7 Fahrenheit) above global surface temperatures of 1850-1900. The impacts of glacial melt, sea level rise, increased extreme weather events and the other impacts we are now living with would continue for decades or centuries, but would begin to moderate around the turn of the century.

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In the worst case, if we continue to increase our dependence on fossil fuels for a few more decades, we risk a temperature rise of 3.3 degrees C to 5.7 degrees C. In that case we would be facing catastrophic climate crisis and risking the extinction of our species, certainly of our way of life. We would also condemn thousands of other species to extinction, and perhaps our planet too!

In an intermediate scenario, a slow reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, we would likely raise the temperature by 2.1 degrees C to 3.5 degrees C.