Is it too late to address climate change?

A member of our audience wanted to know: Is it too late to address climate change? It’s a topic that’s spurred a lot of scientific debate.

Beth Hall is the Indiana state climatologist and directs the Midwestern Regional Climate Center. She said the Earth has always gone through natural cycles of warming and cooling. These happen slowly, over tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of years.

But since humans started burning fossil fuels during the Industrial Revolution, the rate of that warming has sped up dramatically. Hall said those greenhouse gas emissions could stick around in the atmosphere for decades or up to 100 years — even after we stop burning fossil fuels.

“So I think that’s where the debate is — is will it ever return back to normal? I think it will,” she said. “I don’t know if it will be in our generation or in the next couple of generations. And then what damage will have occurred on our planet over that long period of time? I don’t think we have seen the peak yet of impacts on Earth.”

READ MORE: Greenhouse gas emissions from Indiana industries dipped below 2020 levels last year

Impacts like more flooding, extreme heat, tick diseases and reduced crop yields. You can read about climate trends in Indiana here.

Hall said we need to address climate change right now in order for future generations of people, plants, and animals to thrive. She said some Indigenous communities are taught to think seven generations ahead.

“Can we do that? Can we make a decision that we will never see personally or perhaps our children and grandchildren will never see personally?” Hall said.

Scientists have said every degree of warming we can avoid means a brighter future — with the potential to save millions of lives and keep many species of plants and animals from going extinct.

Hall said, to quote the film “The Shawshank Redemption,” hope is “a good thing and it’s possibly the best of things.”

READ MORE: Therapy aims to tackle climate distress, but there may not be enough in Indiana

In fact, a lack of hope about the climate often paralyzes people into inaction — and that can further damage your mental health. Several groups have resources to help everyday people turn their anxiety around climate change into action.

Rebecca is our energy and environment reporter. Contact her at rthiele@iu.edu or follow her on Twitter at @beckythiele.