On Monday, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published the first part of its new climate report.
The consequences can be dramatic. The IPCC predicts increasingly intense heat waves, more torrential rains, more powerful hurricanes and more droughts.
– Seeing such a report is scary. It also comes in the wake of all the natural disasters we have seen this summer. The fire in Greece and the flood in Germany and the Netherlands. I am worried about the idea that it will suddenly happen here even before we know it, says Julian Karenga (26).
After reading the report, he decided to join the Green Party (MDG). And it is clear that Karenga is not alone in feeling the seriousness.
– Right now a new member registers about every other minute, says press officer Nils Mørk in MDG on Monday night.
– We’re a little privileged
Karenga lives in Skien and works as an actress. He has voted for the MDGs in two previous parliamentary elections, and in the hope of giving the party greater impact, he also signed up on Monday.
Just signed up here. Do not agree with everything, but until the other parties begin to treat the climate crisis as something other than an abstract inconvenience, I see no other alternative than to give the MDGs maximum impact.
Five weeks until the election, peeps.https://t.co/8dy8kWYiqg
— Christopher Pahle (@tophepahle) August 9, 2021
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– I do not feel that there are any other parties that take the climate crisis seriously, and for me there is nothing that is more important than climate action now. When I saw that more people signed up, I thought that I must do the same, says Karenga.
While he feels that other parties are interested in talking about cutting tolls or giving tax breaks, he feels that the MDGs constantly prioritize the climate as their core issue.
– Many are provoked when Lan Marie Berg says that she loves tolls, but I like that she is direct. Greta Thunberg is not talking about a compromise either. We are a little privileged and blind to the climate crisis. People must realize the seriousness, which has long been masked, says the 26-year-old.
Over 150 new members
MDG states that they usually get between four and twelve new members daily. At 9 pm on Monday, the party can report that they have received 168 new registrations in the last 24 hours and it is constantly increasing.
– It is clear that the report is a wake-up call, which creates a lot of emotions. The climate crisis is no longer far away and far in the future. We are talking about the future of the young people today, of our children. It makes many sad, but also filled with the will to fight, says press officer Nils Mørk in the party.
Today’s report is devastating… and so incredibly sad… then this year’s election was suddenly much easier and more important! Membership in @partiet is now in the box!
– christian helle (@helle_christian) August 9, 2021
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He emphasizes that this year’s election must be a climate election.
– The next government in Norway is the last that has a real chance to change course. And it is clear that only a strong MDG is willing to put the environmental issue first, says Mørk.
In total, the party now has over 9700 members. They reached the top of the membership just before Christmas. At that time, the party had 10,305 members.
– This has been a day with a lot of emotions, says party leader Une Bastholm.
– HAPPY: It is inspiring that so many want to join in to take that fight with us, says party leader Une Bastholm in MDG. Photo: Kristin Grønning / TV 2
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Extreme to continue as before
– The report that was presented this morning is frightening, and it is clear that there are more than me who are both sad and filled with will to fight on behalf of our children. It is good to see that many want to take the fight for a livable climate and a rich nature with us, says Une Bastholm to TV 2.
She describes the climate crisis as the greatest injustice of our time.
– ELECTION: MDG has Julian’s vote in this fall’s election. Photo: Private
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– The UN chief says we must stop looking for oil and gas today. Nevertheless, no party other than the MDGs will commit to it. The extreme is not MDG’s oil policy, but to continue as before, says Bastholm.
For Julian Karenga, voting MDG is part of a bigger dream.
– I am an idealist and I dream that we can create a better society for future generations. I feel that the party is working hard towards that. They see the reality of the situation around the world, says the 26-year-old.
Publicly funded
MDG states that they have collected a total of over three million through public funding in this year’s election campaign. According to Mørk, two of them are from regular donors.
– Competing parties receive millions from large organizations and companies, so we are completely dependent on these supporters. We have a goal of being popularly rooted and standing on our own two feet by being the best at public funding, which makes us unique among the parties in the Storting, he says.
Main findings of the IPCC report
These are some of the main conclusions of the new report:
- Global surface temperatures will continue to rise until at least the middle of the century. Without major cuts in greenhouse gas emissions in the coming decades, both the 1.5-degree target and the 2.0-degree target will break.
- The temperature has already risen by 1.07 degrees from pre-industrial times and is set to reach 1.5 degrees in just 20 years.
- If emissions continue to increase in the coming decades, we could risk warming of up to 5.7 degrees by the end of the century.
- Some climate change is already irreversible and will continue for thousands of years to come.
Source: NTB
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Emissions must go down
The IPCC report has addressed five different future scenarios: two where emissions continue to increase for a long time to come, an intermediate scenario and two where emissions are cut rapidly.
In the most ambitious scenario, the IPCC assumes that CO2 emissions will reach net zero around the year 2050, and then become negative in the last half of the century.
Even in such a situation, the climate panel’s best estimate is that warming will rise to 1.6 degrees around the middle of the century. But after that, negative emissions will contribute to the temperature increase falling again to 1.4 degrees closer to the year 2100.
In the scenario with the largest emissions, however, the IPCC expects a warming of between 3.3 and 5.7 degrees towards the end of the century – with 4.4 degrees as the best estimate.
In any case, the conclusion is that there is a lot to be gained from cutting emissions. Emission cuts will slow down global warming – and its consequences.
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