Friday, January 10

2024 was officially the hottest year on record, according to a confirmed study, passing a crucial climate threshold that spells doom and danger for the planet in the coming decades.

Global warming and climate change are primarily caused by greenhouse gases, a group of several gases in the atmosphere that trap heat. Unfortunately, human activities happen to release a large amount of these greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, like carbon dioxide from cars or methane from landfills, trapping more heat and therefore warming the world.

Back in 2015, it became clear that the world was warming at an unprecendented pace, and it was beginning to have a serious effect on the planet as a whole. Due to this, countries passed the Paris Agreement that year, which promised to keep human-caused global warming under 1.5 degrees Celsius-- scientists determined that if it crossed that tipping point, Earth would cross the threshold between reversible damage and irreversible damage.

Unfortunately, that threshold was crossed in 2024 as the rise in global temperatures exceeded 1.6 degrees Celsius when compared to preindustrial levels. Every single one of the world's top ten hottest years has occurred in the last 10 years, with 2024 topping that list. In addition, each month of 2024 from January to June ranked as the hottest-ever for that month, while the record for the world's hottest day ever was broken on July 22.

This is because countries have not done enough to stop climate change, and its effects are being seen all over the world. Natural disasters like wildfires, hurricanes, and droughts are all becoming more common, and more people die each year from these devastating consequences of burning fossil fuels.

This can also be attributed to other factors, though, like the arrival of El Niño. El Niño is a global weather pattern that generally leads to a slightly warmer planet, but it only affects global temperatures by around 0.2 degrees Celsius-- the rest of the 1.6 degrees of warming can be attributed to human-related activities.

Thankfully, 2025 is not expected to be as hot as 2024 due to the arrival of La Niña, another weather pattern that cools the planet instead of warming it. Also, the Paris Agreement threshold is measured over several years, not just one, so the world would need to average a rise of above 1.5 degrees Celsius over the next few years to have truly missed the mark on the agreement's goal.

However, countries across the world continue to ramp up the usage of fossil fuels and refuse to shift away from resources, items, and processes that damage the environment. The necessary action is not being taken to stop this global disaster, and soon, it will be too late. Earth is currently projected for a staggering 2.7˚C of warming by 2100, and climate change shows no signs of slowing down.

Fact of the Day: Octopi have 9 brains-- one central brain in their head and eight mini-brains in each tentacle.

Quote of the Day: Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. (Seneca the Younger)

Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster): Excursion (noun, ik-SKER-zhun) - Excursion refers to a trip, and especially to a short one made for pleasure. Excursion is also often used figuratively to refer to a deviation from a direct, definite, or proper course, and often in particular to a digression.

In a Sentence: Some of Maya’s most cherished childhood memories are of fishing excursions with her grandpa.