NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO • December 18, 2020
The hottest decade on record is coming to a close, with the last five years being the hottest since 1880. The future will be even hotter, although humans, through the choices governments, corporations and individuals make, will decide exactly how much. That means more years like 2020, with increasingly powerful hurricanes, more intense wildfires, less ice and longer heat waves. The average yearly number of $1 billion-dollar disasters in the U.S. has quadrupled in the last three decades. As of October 2020, there had been 16 climate-driven disasters that caused at least $1 billion in damage each.