Essential Reading: Understanding the UN’s ‘Code Red’ Climate Report

Earth is getting so hot that temperatures in about a decade will probably blow past a level of warming that world leaders have sought to prevent, according to a new report that the United Nations called a “code red for humanity.”

The most important takeaways from the new Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report are easily summarized: Global warming is happening, it’s caused by human greenhouse gas emissions, and the impacts are very bad (in some cases, catastrophic).

A major new report from the IPCC paints a devastating portrait of climate change. But it also shows that it's not too late for drastic action.

At nearly 4,000 pages, the report from the IPCC is massive. These five lines highlight their findings.

Hotter Asia, drier Alps, stormier U.S., saltier island nations.

The U.N. climate panel report on the physical science of climate change uses five possible scenarios for the future. The scenarios are the result of complex calculations that depend on how quickly humans curb greenhouse gas emissions.

One of the authors of the UN climate report explains why scientists have gotten so much better at seeing the “human footprint” in each weather disaster.

Understanding global warming intellectually is not the same as feeling its presence in your daily life—or seeing photos of a 50-foot wall of fire.

Thankfully, the report arrives to a citizenry more engaged with the issue than ever before.

We’re not powerless, even if it feels that way.