This video from Yale Climate Forum explains that we are half way to the threshold temperature at which arctic permafrost will thaw and release huge quantities of carbon dioxide and methane into the earth’s atmosphere, triggering uncontrollable climate change.
Recent research from Oxford University indicates arctic permafrost thawing will occur if the earth’s temperature increases to 1.5ºC above the pre-industrial temperature of the earth.
We are now 0.8ºC hotter than in pre-industrial times, so it’s vital that we reduce human-caused carbon emissions quickly and steeply, in order to have a chance of stopping the rise in the earth’s temperature before it reaches 1.5ºC above the pre-industrial level.