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Al Mayadeen's correspondent: Two were martyred in an initial toll of the Israeli drone strike that targeted the al-Asira neighborhood in the city of Baalbek, eastern Lebanon
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: An Israeli drone strike targeted the al-Asira neighborhood east of Baalbek, eastern Lebanon
Sheikh Naim Qassem to the pager attack survivors: You are the greatest resistance. Know that 'Israel' will fall because it embodies aggression, crime, and occupation; victory is truly yours
Sheikh Qassem to the pager attack survivors: The value of what you are doing despite your wounds is immense, and here you are, treading the path of the Master of Nation's Martyrs and the leaders
Sheikh Qassem to the pager attack survivors: You are moving forward with insight deeper than sight itself. The enemy sought to eliminate your role in the battle, yet you remain steadfast and continue the fight
Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem to the pager attack survivors one year later: You are healing from your wounds and rising above them. You have successfully passed the test
Palestinian media: Reports of stabbing operation in occupied al-Quds.
Israeli media: Sirens blare in Arava in South, near Ramon Airport.
Egyptian PM Mostafa Madbouli: Egypt is targeted in plans to redraw regional map
AEOI Chief Mohammad Eslami: Our presence in IAEA General Council and fact-checking helped in preventing unilateral rhetoric that aims to portray Iran as an unregulated country

What Is The Difference Between 1.5°C and 2°C Global Warming?

  • By Al Mayadeen net
  • Source: Reuters
  • 8 Nov 2021 15:01
  • 1 Shares
3 Min Read

At the United Nations climate meeting in Glasgow, international leaders repeatedly emphasized the need to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius, but what would mean such an increase?

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  • What Is the Difference between 1.5°C and 2°C Global Warming?
    What Is the Difference between 1.5°C and 2°C Global Warming?

World leaders have constantly stressed the need to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. In the 2015 Paris Accords, countries also committed to limit global average temperature rise to less than 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels, a report by Reuters said.

What does this mean? Why does crossing the 1.5-degree mark put us at more severe risk of severe climate change effects on a global level?

So far, the world has heated to 1.1°C above pre-industrial levels, with each of the last four decades recording hotter temperatures than any decade since the mid-19th century.

Extreme weather

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Climate scientist Daniela Jacob, from Germany's Climate Service Center, told Reuters "We never had such a global warming in only a few decades," explaining that "Half a degree means much more extreme weather, and it can be more often, more intense, or extended in duration."

An extreme heat event that occurred once per decade in a climate without human influence, would happen 4.1 times a decade at 1.5°C of warming, and 5.6 times at 2°C, according to the U.N. climate science panel (IPCC) cited by Reuters. If warming continued to 4°C, such events would occur 9.4 times per decade.

This means that changes in extremes will become larger, heatwaves, floods, extreme rainfall, and more intense droughts would happen more often.

Not just the weather

After the 2°C mark, the ice sheets would collapse. Instead of the few feet of sea-level rise expected by the end of the century at 1.5°C, we would witness sea levels rising up to 10 meters. 

1.5°C of warming would destroy 70% of coral reefs, whereas 2°C of warming would mean 99% of them would be destroyed.

Crops will fail, food prices would spike, hunger and famine would grow more widespread, disease-carrying mosquitoes would be able to expand across a wider range. 

"If we can keep warming below 3°C we likely remain within our adaptive capacity as a civilization, but at 2.7°C warming we would experience great hardship," says climate scientist Michael Mann, at Pennsylvania State University.

  • global warming
  • Climate change
  • COP26
  • health

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