Last decade Inflicted the worst Climate Crisis on record

Last decade was hottest in recent history as global warming accelerates, while 2019 was one of the three warmest years recorded since the Industrial Revolution. The rise in global temperatures is linked to the ongoing increase in emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide

Last year was one of the three hottest years since the records began in the 1800’s, only outstripped by 2016, and 2015 in some analyses, the 30th edition of the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society reported.

Each decade since 1980 the temperatures had been successively warmer than the one before. The last decade, 2010-2019, was 0.2C warmer than the previous 10 years from 2000-2009.

And the years since the turn of the millennium had been warmer than any other comparable period since the Industrial Revolution, climate experts warned.

All the years after 2013 had been warmer than any previous years dating back to the mid-1800’s, the evidence showed. The changes in the polar environment are the worst for the Ice bears, but also at the start of the food chain the plankton nurseries are minimized by global warming.

The report, which has contributions from climate scientists from around the world, including from the UK Met Office, also said lake temperatures were above long-term averages, and temperatures for permafrost – or permanently frozen ground – were increasing.

The growing season in the northern hemisphere was eight days longer than average in 2019, mountain glaciers shrank across the globe for the 32nd consecutive year and massive wildfires raged in Australia, the Amazon, Indonesia and Siberia.

Global average temperature is perhaps the simplest climate indicator through which to view the changes taking place in our climate. The number of extreme events, such as wildfires, heatwaves and droughts, have at least part of their root linked to the rise in global temperature.

Independent / Crickey Conservation Society 2020.