Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math

Bill McKibben looks at Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math via three numbers.  The problem at hand: if we want to limit warming to 2°C, we can only (globally) put about 565 more gigatons of CO2 into the atmosphere.  Unfortunately the fossil fuel industry already has about 2800 gigatons worth of reserves on their balance sheets.  If we are to avoid profound alteration of the climate, all those reserves will have to be written off and taken as a loss.  This will, of course, bankrupt the entire industry.  That’s the goal.  It’s them, or the atmosphere.