Expect extreme and unavoidable climate catastrophes, warns new UN report

The consequences of global warming are now unavoidable, while climate catastrophes are likely to get worse. Those are the findings of a new report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The earth is projected to surpass a heating threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius. It’s at that point when serious climate events are expected to take place. All that is according to Michael Prather, a professor of earth system sciences at UC Irvine and a contributor to the IPCC report.

“There's probably going to be environmental issues of insecurity and threats around the world because a lot of places will not be livable,” Prather tells KCRW. “When you exceed 40 degrees Celsius … people cannot work outdoors. And so we're basically going into a new world.”