April) ‘This is it. If we don’t amp up, we’re goners’: the last chance to confront the climate crisis? | The Guardian
When it comes to addressing the climate emergency, there have been hopeful moments before that ultimately led to nothing. Now, hope rises again
Jeff Goodall Fri 16 Apr 2021
The Earth’s climate has always been a work in progress. In the 4.5bn years the planet has been spinning around the sun, ice ages have come and gone, interrupted by epochs of intense heat. The highest mountain range in Texas was once an underwater reef. Camels wandered in evergreen forests in the Arctic. Then a few million years later, 400 feet of ice formed over what is now New York City. But amid this geologic mayhem, humans have gotten lucky. For the past 10,000 years, virtually the entire stretch of human civilization, people have lived in what scientists call “a Goldilocks climate” – not too hot, not too cold, just right.