It’s the Hottest Year Ever, Again

By Willy Blackmore | Word In Black(WIB) – At the COP 20 talks in Paris back in 2015, organizers pushing for a lower overall goal for global average temperature increases in order to stave off the worst effects of climate change had a very effective slogan: 1.5 to stay alive. The idea was that cutting emissions in order to keep the increase in temperatures over pre-industrial levels to 1.5 degrees Celsius instead of 2 degrees, which had been the consensus position held by many climate scientists and negotiators, would set the world up for a less-bad climate future. That would be particularly true for those most at risk, like low-lying island nations, and also the& Black and Brown people who tend to live on the frontlines of climate change in the U.S.RELATED:& The& Extreme Heat& of the Future Could Be More Dangerous Than ExpectedThe slogan, and the effort behind it, was successful, and 1.5 degrees is the goal enshrined in the Paris agreement. But 2024, which is believed to be on track to beat out 2023 as the hottest year ever recorded, will also mark the first time the world has sailed past that stay-alive threshold.Both of those stark bits...