Summary
In 2024, global temperatures rose 1.6°C above preindustrial levels, surpassing the 1.5°C Paris Agreement threshold for the first time.
The rise, driven by fossil fuel emissions and intensified by El Niño, caused extreme weather, record heatwaves, and widespread human suffering.
Experts warn the planet is on track for catastrophic 2.7°C heating by 2100 unless emissions drop 45% by 2030.
Despite renewable energy advances, 2024 saw record carbon emissions.
Nice. That saves money on heating. Can use it for the ammo I’ll need in the upcoming water wars.
This is why I don’t have children.
This is why I only had one child.
I remember when it was still believed we could keep under 1.5°C if we could hit our targets. But we didn’t meet those targets and here we are.
Fuck.
Back then (like, a few years ago, really), the idea was that the tipping point was far off.
When I was a kid (I’m mid 30s), we heard “if we don’t make changes over the next few decades, a couple hundred years into the future the world will start to become more hostile.”
A few short years later, it was “the coming generation will need to make changes or we will be leaving a world much less inhabitable for our children’s children.”
That very quickly turned into “this is happening right now.”
The talk of 1.5c warming was lifetimes off. And here we did it while the fuckin boomers are still clinging to power (in the US anyway).
Whereas now, the changes have already happened.
A decade ago, kinda - see e.g. wildfires in California every single quarter now (since 2014 iirc?), plus just about everywhere else as well like remember when Australia was on fire?
Okay so the 1.5 threshold wasn’t reached a decade ago, but who even knows where the real tipping point is, or rather was.
But going along with your theme: it was supposed to be hundreds of years from now when the climate would change, and start to become more hostile. Whereas now, that “start” was a long way back, and some people born since then have already reached puberty.
We didn’t even try.
The entire targets thing was a lie. Kinda a soft approach to ‘we are fucked’
This just in 2025 is the hottest year on record. Oh and guess what 2026 is also the hottest year on record. Oh and what’s this 2027 is the hottest year on record.
But don’t worry, 2028 will only be the hottest year since 2023! (Followed of course by the hottest year on record in 2029 again).
Obligatory hottest year so far comment
Our national news service had the balls to end their reporting on this news on a (techno)optimistic note, that everything will be fine if we just make a little effort. Scandelous and willful negligence.
With social media freeks, authoritarian cold war relics, adventure capitalists and usefull idiots (former athletes, musicians, beauty pageant winners, etc) running the show the planet is fucked.
We did it! We’re number one (point five)
