Don't imagine the future-it's already here

Abstract

Popular debate about climate change often imagines future worlds. In this short commentary, I argue the reality is far more evident and urgent; we don't need to imagine the future of climate change because it is already here. We know the carbon budget we must abide by to avoid dangerous climate change and we are already seeing the reality of extreme weather events unimaginable even a decade ago. We know how climate change ends; we now need to try and rewrite this future. © The Author(s) 2013.