Is Climate Change the Biggest Threat to Humanity?

By now, it’s hard for even the most dedicated of skeptics to argue that humans aren’t having at least some influence on the global climate. But how urgent is it, really? Does climate change require drastic action ASAP, or are there more pressing issues?

📝 On one side… A pair of reports published over the past week laid out the case for countries to do everything they can to reduce their emissions in the very near future.

• Irreversible losses are occurring in many of the world’s ecosystems and causing people living nearby to lose the benefits they provide, per a UN-sponsored report from hundreds of experts in 67 countries. It said most of the worst impacts can be prevented by limiting warming to 2.7ºF vs. pre-industrial levels.
• The Amazon is nearing a tipping point after which over half of the 2.5 million square mile rainforest could turn into savanna, with “profound implications” for the global climate and biodiversity, according to a study in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Climate Change.

✋ On the other hand… Those in favor of taking a slower, more measured approach to climate change argue that cutting out carbon emissions is a massive undertaking that isn’t feasible to do over the course of a few years, or even a few decades.

• If governments implement too many laws restricting global warming right now, it makes energy more expensive and slows economic growth, which could end up impacting the world's population even more than climate change.
• What's more, China emits significantly more greenhouse gases than the US – totaling over ¼ of all global emissions – so even if America commits to drastic action, it won't make much of a difference without Beijing.