Paris climate talks: Why all the fuss over 2 measly degrees?
James Fitz-Morris | CBC News | Posted: November 30, 2015 7:19 PM | Last Updated: November 30, 2015
Goal of COP21 summit is to keep Earth from warming more than 2 C. Why?
As leaders from about 150 countries around the world gather in Paris for the next two weeks, they have already agreed on one point: Global average temperatures must not be allowed to rise more than 2 C over the averages of the pre-industrial era.
- Paris climate summit opens with offers to help developing nations cope, adapt
- How a 2 C temperature increase could change the planet
- What do you expect from the Paris climate change summit?
The question that remains for world leaders is: how?
The question for most other people is: why?
Two degrees may not seem like much of a change in a country with places that routinely experience temperature swings from 30 C in one season down to –30 C just a few months later — but we are talking about the average for the entire globe.
And that means it's a change that will be felt in the air, on land and in the water.
Watch the video above or here to see how and why two degrees matters.