Expert climatologist says the Earth is heating up even faster than predicted

Back in the 1980s, Columbia University climatologist Dr. James Hansen was a lonely voice warning humanity about the threat of man-made climate change. Aside from a handful of politicians (including future US Vice President Al Gore), Hansen’s insights were largely ignored during that decade, though the fossil fuel industry was well aware of this growing problem and tried to downplay it. Flash forward four decades and the scientific community overwhelmingly agrees human-caused climate change is both real and an existential threat to humanity.

Now Hansen has come forward with a new study, published in the journal Oxford Open Climate Change, which shows that the Earth is heating up faster than experts previously predicted. The report warns that humans are already “in the early phase of a climate emergency” and that a surge of heat is “already in the pipeline.” When this pushes global temperatures so high that they exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels in the 2020s — and more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels before 2050 — humans will regularly experience “a new abnormal” including extreme heat, droughts and floods (due to sea level rise). The phrase “new abnormal” was coined by University of Pennsylvania climatologist Dr. Michael E. Mann, who added that climate change will get even worse “as long as we continue to burn fossil fuels and generate carbon pollution.”

“The 1.5-degree limit is deader than a doornail,” Hansen told reporters on a call reported by CNN. “And the 2-degree limit can be rescued, only with the help of purposeful actions.”