The climate crisis has arrived and is accelerating faster than expected. It is more severe than anticipated and is threatening ecosystems and the future of humanity. Particularly worrisome are potential irreversible climate tipping points and feedbacks that could lead to a catastrophe well beyond the ability of humans to counteract, possibly making large regions of the planet uninhabitable.
Since the beginning of the understanding of the consequences of greenhouse gas emissions we have been on a path of denial. No amount of future emissions reductions or complete cessation of emissions can reduce the accumulated greenhouse gases in our atmosphere right now.
In other words, we must commence to remove excess greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. This is the real climate emergency. To reverse global warming and to reduce extreme weather events we must not only protect but restore Earth’s ecosystems, the forests, grasslands, wetlands, peatlands, mangroves and our soils. The technologies already exist to enhance natural systems to remove the excess greenhouse gases. But we can also be removing CO2 from the air with potash and lye in submarines to keep sailors safe from carbon dioxide poisoning. In the 1950s, amine chemicals became one of the most important chemicals in industry.
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