'No children, happy to go extinct', tweets weatherman after grim climate-change report made him cry (now he's considering a vasectomy)



Eric Holthaus, who used to do weather for Wall Street Journal, was reacting to Friday's findings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Scientists found in the report that it was 'extremely likely' that humans are causing warming trends

Holthaus said he has decided not to have children in order to leave a lighter carbon footprint, and has considered having a vasectomy

He tweeted on Friday 'no children, happy to go extinct'



The weatherman also said he is committed to stop flying as 'it's not worth the climate'

US Secretary of State, John Kerry, calls the report 'an alarm bell'

It means scientists have moved from being 90 per cent sure to 95 per cent sure regarding global warming

A meteorologist who has covered weather for the Wall Street Journal tweeted that he has decided not to have children in order to leave a lighter carbon footprint, and is considering having a vasectomy.



He also vowed to stop flying after the world's recent climate-change report made him cry.



Eric Holthaus was reacting to the findings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change which released a report on Friday that found it was ‘extremely likely’ that humans are causing warming trends seen in the last several decades.

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Eric Holthaus, a meteorologist who has covered weather for the Wall Street Journal, cried over the phone to his wife before getting on a plane, vowing it will be the last time he flies

Holthaus was reacting to findings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which released a report on Friday that found it is "extremely likely" that humans are causing warming trends

The weatherman said he would never fly again to reduce his carbon footprint

On Friday afternoon the weatherman tweeted: 'No children, happy to go extinct, which in and of itself, carries a certain sadness. #IPCC'

His next tweet said: 'Its a very emotional decision. Mixed feelings. adios babies?'

According to another tweet from Holthaus, the Dutch artist known as Tinkebell, who calls attention to animal rights issues through works that use the remains of dead animals, had herself sterilised last week for a similar reason.

Holthaus, who now writes for Quartz, has decided he will also reduce his carbon footprint by giving up on air travel.

‘I just broke down in tears in boarding area at SFO while on phone with my wife. I've never cried because of a science report before. #IPCC,’ was his first tweet on around 2pm on Friday.

‘I realised just now: This has to be the last flight I ever take. I’m committing right now to stop flying. It’s not worth the climate,’ he tweeted a few minutes later.

'Broke down': Holthaus' first tweet after reading the report

'Last flight': He commits to stop flying No other way: He asks people to do everything they can to reverse carbon emissions

Devotion: The weatherman says people should spend all their energy on the issue of climate change

Extinct: Holthaus says he is happy to do it even though the thought makes him sad

Adios babies: He says the decision to not have children is 'emotional'

Vasectomy: His last tweet toys with the idea of getting sterilised

Scientists say human activity is the dominant cause of global warming, a long-term trend that is clear despite a recent plateau in the temperatures.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change used its strongest language yet in the report on the causes of climate change, prompting calls for global action to control emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases.

‘If this isn't an alarm bell, then I don't know what one is. If ever there were an issue that demanded greater cooperation, partnership, and committed diplomacy, this is it,’ said US Secretary of State John Kerry.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said the report was 'an alarm bell'

The IPCC, which has 195 member countries, adopted the report Friday after all-night talks at a meeting in Stockholm.



In its previous assessment, in 2007, the U.N.-sponsored panel said it was ‘very likely’ that global warming was due to human activity, particularly the CO2 emissions resulting from the burning of coal, oil and gas.



The change means that scientists have moved from being 90 per cent sure to 95 per cent - about the same degree of certainty they have that smoking kills.

'At 90 percent it means there is a 10 percent probability that it's not entirely correct,' said Chris Field, Carnegie Institution scientist who is a leader in the IPCC but wasn't involved in the report released Friday.



'And now that's 5 per cent. So it's a doubling of our confidence. That's actually a consequential change in our level of understanding.'

One of the most controversial subjects in the report was how to deal with what appears to be a slowdown in warming if you look at temperature data for the past 15 years. Climate skeptics say this 'hiatus' casts doubt on the scientific consensus on climate change, even though the past decade was the warmest on record. In the end, the IPCC made only a brief mention of the issue in the summary for policymakers, stressing that short-term records are sensitive to natural variability and don't in general reflect long-term trends.

The IPCC raised its projections of the rise in sea levels to 10-32 inches (26-82 centimeters) by the end of the century, compared to previous reports predicting a rise of 7-23 inches (18-59 centimeters)

'An old rule says that climate-relevant trends should not be calculated for periods less than around 30 years,' said Thomas Stocker, co-chair of the group that wrote the report.

The IPCC said the evidence of climate change has grown thanks to more and better observations, a clearer understanding of the climate system and improved models to analyse the impact of rising temperatures.

The full 2,000-page report isn't going to be released until Monday, but the summary for policymakers with the key findings was published Friday.



It contained few surprises as many of the findings had been leaked in advance.

As expected, the IPCC raised its projections of the rise in sea levels to 10-32 inches (26-82 centimeters) by the end of the century. The previous report predicted a rise of 7-23 inches (18-59 centimeters).

Using four scenarios with different emissions controls, the report projected that global average temperatures would rise by 0.3 to 4.8 degrees C this century. That's 0.5-8.6 F.

The report adopted Friday deals with the physical science of climate change.

