State of the climate

 From Michael E Mann

"The 2026 state of the climate report: challenges and opportunities" | Honored to be a co-author of this article in #Bioscience, led by @williamripple.bsky.social , detailing the increased danger signs from our warming planet: academic.oup.com/bioscience/a...

ABSTRACT

Earth’s climate system is moving deeper into uncharted territory. We present the 2026 update of planetary vital signs that track the state of Earth’s climate system, alongside indicators of the human activities driving ongoing change. Of 16 climate-related indicators, seven are currently at record extremes. Several indicators also show evidence of accelerating trends or abrupt shifts, raising concerns about increasing climate instability, interacting feedbacks, and the growing risk of crossing critical tipping points. Human activities, particularly fossil fuel combustion, remain the dominant drivers of these changes. Despite the worsening trends, encouraging signs of societal changes are emerging, including the rapid expansion of renewable electricity and battery storage, although progress remains far below the scale and speed needed to stabilize Earth’s climate system. Rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, effective adaptation, ecosystem protection, and transformative societal change remain essential to reducing climate risks and securing a more resilient and sustainable future.

It's still not too late.  We can cut emissions of greenhouse gases.  There is no technological or economic reasons why we can't.   There're many who do not want emissions to be cut — oil, gas and coal companies; feckless legacy car makers who were too stupid to embrace EVs; the rabid right, who think cutting emissions is somehow woke; imbeciles, who still despite the evidence believe that climate change is happening.  We must not them derail decarbonisation.