New research suggests that by the time most people have felt the effects of climate change first-hand, prompting them to take action, it will be too late.
Climate change is becoming more apparent, but waiting for everyone to live through conditions such as extreme weather could delay action by decades, a Carnegie Institution news release reported.
Every year extreme weather events such as "heat waves and hurricanes" prompt climate change discussions; these types of discussions can inspire both government agencies and individuals to fight global warming in ways such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions. But "vagaries in weather" could delay real climate change action.
"When support for doing something about climate change is based on personal observations of local weather, policymaking may end up being dictated by the roulette wheel of natural climate variability," Carnegie's Katharine Ricke said in the news release.
Ricke created a model along with colleague Ken Caldeira that suggested in the next 50 years almost every country in the world would experience climate change effects that will prompt some sort of action.
"Local natural variability in weather means that majority of people in each nation, particularly large countries like China and the United States, could personally experience these extremes for themselves either tomorrow or many years from now," the news release reported.
Citizens of almost every nation, especially large ones like China and the United States, must support emission reductions; this must happen even before every citizen has experienced the effects of climate change themselves.
"Local weather is anecdotal information, but climate change is sound science," Caldeira said. "Good politics can be based on a good anecdote, but good policy needs to be based on sound science."
The Carnegie Institution was founded in 1902, their scientists are leaders in "plant biology, developmental biology, astronomy, materials science, global ecology, and Earth and planetary science," the news release reported.
