New UN report gives dire warning about climate change—but gives hope as well

The report, titled "AR6 Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis," was put out by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and warns that recent severe weather patterns worldwide are likely to continue and possibly get worse over the next decades or longer.

Unlike other less serious efforts by others, the report's 4,000 pages cite some 14,000-plus studies conducted worldwide, and indicates that we are at the border of an average 1.5 degrees centigrade increase in the Earth's surface temperature, which is considered be many to be the point at which humanity could be deeply and permanently affected.

This threshold could be passed as soon as in the early 2030s, according to the report. The report also indicates that, even if the world manages to halt the warming at the 1.5 C mark, we would still be subject to dangerously rising sea levels.

However, the report did have a glimmer of hope in it. For one thing, it shows that people around the world are taking action to reduce emissions.

Also, it appears, according to the report, that most of the severe impacts of climate change are still avoidable, especially if the world's major countries meet their pledges and achieve carbon neutrality by the middle of this century.