The Intelligence from The Economist To a concerning degree: dire climate assessments
Aug 14, 2020
Dylan Barry, a science writer for The Economist, discusses alarming findings from recent climate reports highlighting record temperatures and severe environmental impacts. Ashley Mears, a sociologist and author, dives into the intriguing economics of elite parties, revealing a hidden 'beauty brokerage' in the night-time economy. Together, they examine the role of pandemic-era changes on climate activism and how sports, particularly baseball, navigates health challenges while striving for a safe return.
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Hottest Decade
- The past decade was the hottest ever recorded globally, with 2019 ranking among the top three hottest years.
- This concerning trend is highlighted in the State of the Climate report, revealing increasingly grim climate conditions.
Climate Change Impacts
- July 2019 was the hottest month ever recorded, and atmospheric CO2 levels are the highest in 800,000 years.
- Sea levels have risen to a record high, locking in over a meter of change in the next two centuries.
2020 Climate Trends
- 2020 has seen more extreme and unequally distributed climatic events, including wetter conditions and droughts.
- The hurricane season started much earlier than usual, with the nine earliest recorded hurricanes occurring before August.
