"This Year, the Hottest in History...The Incompetence of Countries Revealed"

The Guardian UK, Interview with Professor James Hansen
Abnormal Climate Phenomena Confirmed Worldwide

As this year is expected to become the hottest year in history, voices questioning humanity's ability to respond to the climate crisis are growing louder.

James Hansen, a professor at Columbia University in the United States, said in an interview with the British Guardian on the 29th (local time), "This year and next year will be recorded as a turning point revealing the incompetence of governments worldwide in addressing climate change," adding, "Not only have governments failed to stop global warming, but the pace of warming has actually accelerated."

Professor Hansen was the first scholar to publicly warn about the climate crisis in the 1980s.

Recently, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that there is over a 99% probability that this year will be the hottest in the past 174 years. The U.S. climate analysis group Berkeley Earth also stated that it is almost certain that this year's average temperature was more than 1.5 degrees Celsius higher than pre-industrial levels.

Johan Rockstr?m, a professor at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, said, "This year’s heatwaves, droughts, floods, fires, and sea surface temperature anomalies are shockingly intense," adding, "The Earth may be sending an extreme bill in response to humanity’s pressure over the past 250 years, signaling a change in how it responds."

Polar sea ice distribution also recorded record lows consecutively this summer and winter. A Chilean research team on King George Island, at the northern tip of Antarctica, witnessed unprecedented rainfall during the snowfall season in July. In January, an iceberg roughly the size of London broke off from the Brunt Ice Shelf in the Weddell Sea, Antarctica.

Signs of the climate crisis are being detected worldwide as disasters and calamities occur in various countries.

In Libya, a tropical storm accompanied by heavy rain caused massive flooding, resulting in over 4,000 deaths and 10,000 missing persons. On Maui Island in Hawaii, wildfires triggered by hot air caused 97 deaths and turned the entire island into ashes.

The Guardian presented a grim forecast that in a few years, this year’s abnormal heat and disasters will become the "new normal." It warned that this year might be recorded as one of the coolest and least disastrous years. However, the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP28), which concluded on the 13th, only produced a vague agreement on a "transition away from fossil fuels."

Professor Hansen argued, "Young people must take responsibility for their future. The turbulent political situation today may provide such an opportunity," insisting that only a change in leadership is the solution.