1.5 degrees Celsius is the world’s landmark standard on which the future of humankind’s lifestyle depends, and it has the exact same temperature definition as 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit. For the rest of this post, I will abbreviate 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit with 2.7dF. The United States is one of only fourteen countries on the globe that does not practice Celsius.

After Earth scientists spent way too long warning the world about the perils of climate change, it wasn’t until 1988 that the United Nations and the World Meteorological Organization finally caught on and formed the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to evaluate scientific input pertaining to global warming. Sadly, it required another 27 years for world leaders to TRY to halt the long-term temperature rise at 2.7dF. Sometimes referred to as the Paris Accord, on December 12, 2015, 196 COP21 member nations wrote the international binding treaty on climate change to hold, “the increase in the global average temperature to well below 3.6dF above pre-industrial levels” and furthermore, pursue efforts to “limit the temperature increase to 2.7dF above pre-industrial levels.”

However, as I explained in an earlier post, it took another eight years for COP28 to actually acknowledge fossil fuel as the foundation of climate change. Sadly, it required 3.5 decades to accept what the scientific community had been preaching for seven decades. A costly error because as of year end 2023, our planet is well on its way to arriving at an average global temperature of somewhere between 4.5dF and 5.2dF over the pre-Industrial era. In order to achieve the 2.7dF lid, countries will have to slash emissions by 42% no later than 2030. Earth has already warmed up 2.2dF since mid last century. On one day, 11/17/2023, Earth’s average temperature was 3.6F above the pre-industrial basis. True, just one day and not a year’s average; yet that 3.6dF was a warming impact never witnessed before. It doesn’t bode well for the goals humanity must achieve, does it? Should fossil fuel continue to burn unabated, mankind will breach the 2.7dF year round average mandate by 2029, and the chance to keep it there will be around 50%. To have a fighting chance to meet the 2.7F goal, big oil and gas must have a significant drop in its fossil fuel investment, and to date, there is no sign of such concern for others.

The global greenhouse gas blanket is wrapping Earth in 1.5 trillion tons of trapping gas and that enclosure is getting more dense by around 40 billion tons per year. At 3.6dF, the chance of an ice-free Arctic summer is 80% vs. 10% at 2.7dF. Remember, 2015 is the year the 2.7dF cap came about, and we’re already at 2.2dF. Should the precious CO2 ppm level reach 500 due to fossil fuel continuing in full swing, we won’t simply cross that 2.7dF barrier. . .we’ll jump over it. I’m stating right here and now that I’m counting on the 500 ppm never having to be reckoned with, and in next week’s post I’ll explain why.