NEW YORK (TIP): The United Nation’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Wednesday, December 2,  that 2020 is set to enter the record books as one of the top three hottest years, and has the potential to surpass 2016’s distinction as the warmest year on record. According to the U.N.’s provisional report, the 2020 State of the Global Climate, the past decade will be the hottest on record, with the past consecutive six years, 2015 through 2020, being the planet’s warmest.  “2020 has, unfortunately, been yet another extraordinary year for our climate, WMO Secretary-General Prof. Petteri Taalas said in a press release. “We saw new extreme temperatures on land, sea and especially in the Arctic. Wildfires consumed vast areas in Australia, Siberia, the US West Coast and South America, sending plumes of smoke circumnavigating the globe,” he said. “We saw a record number of hurricanes in the Atlantic, including unprecedented back-to-back category 4 hurricanes in Central America in November,” Taalas continued. “Flooding in parts of Africa and South East Asia led to massive population displacement and undermined food security for millions.” In a speech at Columbia University, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, “Humanity is waging war on nature.”3 “This is suicidal. Nature always strikes back — and it is already doing so with growing force and fury.” When U.S. President Donald Trump attended a briefing on wildfires in California in September, a state official spoke of the science that could explain climate change. The president responded by saying, “I don’t think science knows, actually.” “Biodiversity is collapsing,” Guterres said. “One million species are at risk of extinction. Ecosystems are disappearing before our eyes. Deserts are spreading. Wetlands are being lost.”

(Source: Knowhere)