World's climate crisis is real, growing

The term “climate change denier” generally refers to someone who disagrees with one or more of the following observations: 1 temperatures are trending higher globally, 2. temperatures are rising because of human activities, and/or 3. the relatively rapid rise in temperatures is cause for concern.

Initially, climate change deniers argued there was no definitive evidence that the Earth was actually warming. They argued that any claims that temperatures were trending higher were hoaxes and fear-mongering. When the preponderance of evidence showed the trend was real, many of them then argued, that while the world was indeed warming, it was not caused by human activities such as the combustion of fossil fuels and deforestation. When climate scientists firmly established that human activities are largely responsible for the warming, many former deniers then agreed with them but now contend the impacts of global warming do not warrant serious concern.

One wonders how many more people must be harmed by or die from the disastrous effects of severe weather events that are increasing in frequency and intensity because of global warming before deniers once again change their minds. Perhaps a tour of the storm-ravaged southeastern U.S. could help convince them that climate change has truly reached crisis proportions.

Search for “The Climate Crisis” — Save the Children International, “Learn About the Climate Crisis” — NRDC, “Climate Crisis- responding to one of our generation's greatest humanitarian challenges” — American Red Cross, and “Climate change indicators reached record levels in 2023” — World Meteorological Organization.

JACK DeBAUN

Dover