The report, written and released by the United Nations-led Intergovernmental

Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and formally known as the IPCC Special Report
on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate, details the most up-to-
date understanding of climate change, its causes, how it will continue to impact
us on Earth and what we can do about it. The report looks to 2100 to see both
where we will be if we continue on as we currently are, or if major changes are
made to mitigate contributing factors like carbon dioxide emissions.
The main takeaway from the report? "We're seeing that climate change impacts
are already happening, were seeing that they're happening at a faster pace than
before," Ben Orlove, a professor of public policy at Columbia University and a
lead author on the report, said to Space.com at an Explorer's Club event in New
York on Sept. 25, where scientists, including authors of the report, discussed the
report and its implications.

This harsh reality is "true in the oceans, sea levels are rising, the oceans are
turning more acid[ic], they're losing the oxygen that's required to support life.
We're seeing glaciers melting on every continent of the world. Antarctica and
Greenland [are] also losing their ice. These are serious problems," Orlove added.
"We've been able to look ahead to 2100 and to distinguish what happens if we
cut back on greenhouse gases soon or if we do not. And there's an enormous
difference. It'd be much easier to cope with the changes that will come by 2100 if
they're smaller."

"This report is built on the science we need to guide us in adapting to a changing

environment and, most importantly, to avert a planetary disaster … The findings
of the new IPCC report need to be known and not only known but understood
by me and all of my colleagues in government and politics around the
world," Katrín Jakobsdóttir, the prime minister of Iceland, said at the event.
The report was clear in showing how, if we continue behaving in a "business-as-
usual" fashion, climate change and its consequences will continue to grow to
unprecedented extremes. "The report does not prescribe telling anyone what to
do. But we can show the consequences of those actions," Orlove said.

Tropical storms becoming both more severe and more frequent will be just one
of many realities that we will face. It is apparent in the report that, seeing as we
are already experiencing the consequences of climate change, there is no way to
avoid its effects.