The hellebores are really beginning to come into their own and provide a welcome lift to all the bad news in the mainstream media with the recently delivered IPCC report confirming that we are really in a last chance saloon and need to take dramatic actions in order to prevent an irreversible climatic crisis on top of all the other crises. This should be the headline news notwithstanding the Ukraine invasion. The report AR6 WG II is a whopping 3,675 pages including 34,000 scientific studies worth of information presented within it to a granular level. But this is only a third of the 6th Assessment Report, https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/.
A Headline Summary for Policy makers is included https://report.ipcc.ch/ar6wg2/pdf/IPCC_AR6_WGII_HeadlineStatements.pdf.
B4 . ” Beyond 2040 and depending on the level of global warming, climate change will lead to numerous
risks to natural and human systems (high confidence). For 127 identified key risks, assessed mid and long- term impacts are up to multiple times higher than currently observed (high confidence).
The magnitude and rate of climate change and associated risks depend strongly on near-term
mitigation and adaptation actions, and projected adverse impacts and related losses and damages
escalate with every increment of global warming (very high confidence).”
D.2 “Climate resilient development is enabled when governments, civil society and the private sector
make inclusive development choices that prioritise risk reduction, equity and justice, and when
decision-making processes, finance and actions are integrated across governance levels, sectors
and timeframes (very high confidence). Climate resilient development is facilitated by international
cooperation and by governments at all levels working with communities, civil society, educational
bodies, scientific and other institutions, media, investors and businesses; and by developing
partnerships with traditionally marginalised groups, including women, youth, Indigenous Peoples,
local communities and ethnic minorities (high confidence). These partnerships are most effective
when supported by enabling political leadership, institutions, resources, including finance, as well as
climate services, information and decision support tools (high confidence).”
“Safeguarding biodiversity and ecosystems is fundamental to climate resilient development, in light
of the threats climate change poses to them and their roles in adaptation and mitigation (very high
confidence). Recent analyses, drawing on a range of lines of evidence, suggest that maintaining the
resilience of biodiversity and ecosystem services at a global scale depends on effective and
equitable conservation of approximately 30% to 50% of Earth’s land, freshwater and ocean areas,
including currently near-natural ecosystems (high confidence).“
Just to add to the woes lest we forget, Covid has not simply decided to disappear and still presents an ongoing risk to global health. So in light of this delightful good cheer the hellebores are a form of nature cure to remind me that we still live in an amazing world . It is more than worth fighting to keep it. Uniquely precious.
The stark conclusion is, “The scientific evidence is unequivocal: climate change is a threat to human well-being and planetary health. Any further delay in global action will miss a brief and rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all”. A liveable future remains within grasp but the window for opportunity and for action is small and rapidly closing. ” Delay is death”. We are all in this together, hellebores and all. We need to garden for life not just simply for aesthetic pleasure.
