Climate Change: Will it Get Better in 2022?

Climate change is a hard topic to discuss and one which is frequently on everybody’s mind, especially in today’s world, where freak storms, previously unseen, rock the world and its foundations. With every annual report and climate change meeting, we see some things that look promising and others that are definitely scary.

2022 brought us new reports and with them, some topics that should be discussed. Will this year make climate change better? Probably not, but there are still topics to be discussed.

Irreversible Damage Has Been Caused

Ecosystems have been changed permanently by rising temperatures in the world. Every little change on the Celsius scale matters and some species cannot adapt anymore. They have reached their peak to adapt to the ever-rising temperatures, meaning that they will continuously get endangered and will eventually go extinct.

What is also worrisome are the glaciers and the snowlines. Glaciers are retreating and have begun to thaw and the snowlines all over the world have gone lower. Some of these things will be lost forever. 

Our Health is At Permanent Risk

Temperature changes, or rather, increases in temperature have put our bodies at risk. The increases in temperature not only affect our mortality rate, but also our quality of life. Stress and anxiety are predicted to go up alongside the temperature.

High-risk areas in Asia, Central America, and the Pacific are also in trouble, mostly because of torrential rains and floods. This not only risks lives but also futures, should the people survive. Homes are lost and countries’ economies are severely impacted.

Every Point on the Scale Matters

The temperature increase is a serious problem and short-term solutions can protect societies, but will not do much to hold temperature increase where it would be acceptable, at, 1.5C. Rapid solutions are implemented, but they only do so much, because, in the long run, carbon emissions need to be lowered or otherwise dealt with, to keep everything cooler. 

Solutions that would work in the long run take lots of effort and money to be implemented and are often given little attention by the relevant authorities.

Adaptation is Possible

There is a huge problem with adaptation, and that is that the security and safety projects are not distributed as they should be. Not all high-risk areas get treatment, or any sort of attention, and short-term solutions like sea walls and shelters only do so much good. 

The focus should be on both the short-term and the long-term goals if we want to make this planet habitable in the next 100 or 200 years.

Climate change is likely to remain the same in 2022, and judging by the UN’s climate change report, we need to do better.