Hey there! Let’s dive into some important stuff about our planet’s climate. 2023 was a year like no other when it comes to climate changes. Here’s what happened: July was the hottest month ever recorded, ocean temperatures hit new highs, and sea levels were the highest since we started keeping track. Meanwhile, Antarctic sea ice was at its lowest, and wildfires were more intense than ever. The Earth’s temperature even briefly rose two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, mainly because of greenhouse gases we keep adding to the atmosphere.
While natural climate patterns like El Niño play a role in warming, they can’t explain everything. The real issue is the greenhouse gases we’re emitting. Scientists have been predicting this for over a century: the more carbon we release, the more the temperature rises. And that’s exactly what’s happening.
It’s tempting to think that extreme weather events are just random, but they’re actually signs of climate change. Imagine you have a pair of dice that represent weather. Normally, you might roll a double six occasionally, which means a big storm or heatwave. But as the planet warms, it’s like someone is changing the numbers on the dice to higher ones, making extreme weather more common.
Not exactly. There’s nothing “normal” about these changes. Before the Industrial Revolution, Earth’s temperatures were stable. But once we started emitting more carbon dioxide, temperatures began to rise sharply, a trend known as the “hockey stick” graph. This isn’t the worst warming in Earth’s history, but it’s the most significant in human history.
Despite the alarming data, scientists believe we can still make a difference. The main obstacle isn’t climate denial anymore; it’s the feeling of hopelessness. Some people think it’s too late to act, but that’s not true. We need to shift from despair to action.
There’s good news! Electric cars are becoming more affordable, and more people are buying them. Solar panels are being installed at record rates, and renewable energy is on the rise. In fact, renewables generated more energy than coal in the U.S. for the first time in 2023. We’re on track to get most of our energy from renewable sources by 2025.
We still have a chance to limit global warming to two degrees Celsius or less, which is crucial for minimizing climate impacts. Scientists predicted these changes, and now it’s up to us to act. By discussing and sharing scientific information, we can make informed decisions and take action.
We have a choice in how we respond to the challenges of 2023. We can either look back and wish we’d done more or see this year as a turning point for positive change. Let’s stay curious and hopeful, because taking action is always better than doing nothing. Thanks for reading, and let’s keep working towards a better future!
Imagine the weather as a pair of dice. Create your own dice game to simulate how climate change affects weather patterns. Use regular dice to represent normal weather and modify them to show how increased greenhouse gases make extreme weather more likely. Discuss with your classmates how this activity illustrates the impact of climate change on weather events.
Calculate your personal carbon footprint using an online calculator. Identify areas where you can reduce your emissions, such as using less electricity or reducing waste. Create a plan to lower your carbon footprint over the next month and share your strategies with the class. Reflect on how individual actions can contribute to global climate solutions.
Research different types of renewable energy sources, such as solar, wind, and hydroelectric power. Create a presentation or poster that explains how one of these energy sources works and its benefits for the environment. Present your findings to the class and discuss how renewable energy can help combat climate change.
Participate in a class debate on the topic: “Is it too late to stop climate change?” Prepare arguments for both sides, considering the scientific data and potential solutions. Engage in a respectful discussion with your classmates, and explore how different perspectives can lead to a deeper understanding of the issue.
Work in groups to develop an action plan to address a local environmental issue related to climate change, such as reducing plastic waste or promoting public transportation. Present your plan to the class, outlining the steps needed to implement it and the potential impact on your community. Consider how local actions can contribute to global climate efforts.
Sure! Here’s a sanitized version of the transcript:
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Hey, smart people. Joe here. I don’t know how to feel about 2023 for anyone paying attention to the climate. It was an absolutely unprecedented year, especially regarding climate. Here’s why: July was the hottest month humans have ever recorded. The average temperature of the ocean surface broke all previous records. Sea levels are the highest since we started keeping records, while Antarctic sea ice levels reached an all-time low. Massive wildfires occurred, and the Earth’s average temperature briefly reached two degrees Celsius over the pre-industrial average for the first time ever, largely due to our greenhouse gas emissions, which continue to rise.
Yes, climate phenomena like El Niño have contributed to some of this warming, but they can’t account for all these changes. Looking at all this data makes me feel confused and worried. One thing I’m not feeling is optimism. I talk about climate change a lot, so I shouldn’t be surprised by all this. It seems like 2023 was particularly challenging. Should I be worried that climate change is accelerating and getting worse than scientists thought? Or is this just what scientists warned would happen all along? I need answers.
One way I, and maybe you, can figure out how to feel about this whole climate change issue is to ask climate scientists how they feel. So that’s what I did.
– My name is Catherine Hayhoe, and I am a climate scientist.
– I’m Michael Mann. I am a professor and the author of the recent book, “Our Fragile Moment.”
I figured two of the top climate scientists could help put this data in perspective for me. The great Steve Schneider used to say, “The truth is bad enough.” The models have predicted that we will continue to warm as long as we keep putting carbon pollution into the atmosphere, and that’s exactly what is happening at a rate that the models predicted decades ago. For over 130 years, we have known what would happen to global temperature. The more carbon we produce, the faster the temperature will change. That is precisely what we see happening today.
The warming we’re experiencing now is exactly what scientists said would happen if we added more carbon to the atmosphere. We knew this over a hundred years ago, yet here we are, feeling surprised. Humans are strange. But does that mean that every extreme weather event this year was caused by climate change? No, because that’s the wrong way to look at it. These events aren’t just the result of climate change; they are manifestations of climate change.
It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that bad things can happen in any year, especially since climate and its influence on weather is complicated. But data doesn’t lie. It tells us that these extreme weather events are indeed the climate change they warned us about.
What we’ve seen is the emergence of what we call the signal over the noise in the form of these extreme weather events. With each passing year, we go further up that warming ramp, and now we’re seeing the impacts of that warming as extreme weather events.
Picture it like this: wherever we live, we have a pair of weather dice, and we always have a chance of rolling a double six naturally. The higher the number, the worse the flood, heat wave, or storm. But as the planet warms decade by decade, global warming is sneaking in and changing one of these numbers on our dice to another six, and then it’s changing another number to a seven. All of a sudden, we’re rolling double sixes and even some double sevens.
Our dice are altered, and we’re heading toward chaos. The last time there was more CO2 in Earth’s atmosphere than now, Greenland had no ice, and sea levels were 50 meters higher than they are today. If that happened now, major cities would be underwater.
So is this the new normal? Not quite. There is nothing normal about any of this. This is a famous graph published by Michael Mann and his colleagues in 1998. Before the Industrial Revolution, Earth’s temperatures were relatively stable. But once we started pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, trapping more of the sun’s heat, temperatures began to rise. This sharp increase at the end became known as the “hockey stick” because it’s going almost straight up, and spoiler alert: it still is.
This isn’t the worst that global warming has been in the entire history of the world, but it’s the worst in human history. Since our species has existed, that’s concerning. All of this climate change data can feel overwhelming, but it’s not time to give up.
I know as a scientist that we can make a difference. There are many ways we can have a positive impact, and it’s important for people to understand that.
So, these scientists who analyze alarming data all day aren’t panicking. They believe we can slow down climate change. So why aren’t we fixing this? Is it because of climate denial?
Climate denial isn’t the main obstacle anymore because we can all see what’s happening with our own eyes. It doesn’t mean that polluters and their advocates have given up. They’ve turned to other tactics: delay, deflection, division, and ironically, despair. If they can convince us it’s too late to do anything about the problem, it leads us down the same path of inaction as outright denial.
So that’s what stands in the way of progress in reversing climate change. The real threat is what some scientists call “climate doism.” We cannot succumb to hopelessness.
This is the right time to start doing as much as we can. It’s as if we’ve already been smoking a pack of cigarettes a day for years. Some change is already inevitable, but we don’t have emphysema or lung cancer, and we’re not dead. So when’s the best time to stop smoking? As soon as possible. How much? As much as possible. And that’s exactly where we are with climate change.
A funny thing happens when we set despair aside: we can see that we’re actually making progress on climate. Electric cars now cost almost the same as gas ones, and people are buying them in 23 countries. More than 5% of new car sales are electric vehicles, which many believe is a key tipping point for getting more EVs on the road. One-third of all solar panels ever used were installed in the last two years. Renewables generated more energy than coal in the United States for the first time ever in 2023. The world is on track to get the majority of its energy from renewable sources by 2025.
So we still have a chance to limit global warming to two degrees Celsius or less, which is essential to minimize the impacts of a changing climate. Scientists got it right, and climate change is indeed spiking, just as they predicted.
I want to end this video on a hopeful note because climate change is serious, and this data is concerning. I don’t know how to interpret all the unusual and alarming things that happened to Earth’s climate in 2023, but I do know one thing: discussing it, sharing good scientific information about what’s happening and what we can do about it is perhaps the greatest hope we have.
We have a choice about how to respond to the challenges of 2023. We could look back and say, “Wow, I wish I’d known that 2023 was the best it would ever be.” Or we can look back and see that 2023 was the worst it ever got, and we can change that. We need to shift our mindset from despair to activism because taking action is far better than doing nothing.
If that’s not something to be hopeful about, I don’t know what is. Stay curious. Thank you all for watching until the end of the video. If you got this far, let me know how you’re feeling about 2023, or leave me a comment with your favorite emoji.
And speaking of optimism, I want to thank everyone who supports the show on Patreon. You all make this possible and allow us to discuss important topics like this video instead of just focusing on trends and memes. Thank you for your support. If you’d like to join that community, check out the link in the description to learn more. See you in the next video!
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Let me know if you need any further modifications!
Climate – The average weather conditions in a particular region over a long period of time. – The climate in tropical regions is generally warm and humid throughout the year.
Change – A process through which something becomes different. – Scientists study climate change to understand how global temperatures are rising over time.
Greenhouse – A structure with walls and a roof made chiefly of transparent material, such as glass, in which plants requiring regulated climatic conditions are grown. – The greenhouse effect is a natural process that warms the Earth’s surface.
Gases – Substances in a state of matter that have no fixed shape and are free to expand. – Carbon dioxide and methane are examples of greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.
Temperature – A measure of the warmth or coldness of an environment or substance. – The average global temperature has increased significantly over the past century.
Extreme – Reaching a high or the highest degree; very great. – Extreme weather events, like hurricanes and heatwaves, are becoming more frequent due to climate change.
Weather – The state of the atmosphere at a place and time, including factors such as temperature, humidity, and precipitation. – The weather today is sunny with a chance of rain in the afternoon.
Renewable – Capable of being replenished naturally over short periods of time. – Solar and wind power are examples of renewable energy sources that help reduce carbon emissions.
Energy – The capacity to do work, such as moving an object or generating heat. – Conserving energy by turning off lights when not in use can help protect the environment.
Action – The process of doing something to achieve a goal or effect. – Taking action to reduce pollution is essential for protecting our planet’s ecosystems.
