LYRICS
Go ahead
Scratch at the surface
Go ahead
Mind needs fed
2+2, 4+4
Go for more
8+8
No debate
Double the score
Go ahead
Scratch at the surface
Go ahead
Mind needs fed
16+16
Know what I mean?
32+32
Yes, I do
Go ahead
Scratch at the surface
Go ahead
Mind needs fed
64+64
Go for more
128+128
Celebrate
Go for more
Double the score
This time
It’s time
For double time
Doubling Time.mp3 (unplugged to save energy)
Chords: E A D G / E A D E / E A G F# E
Instrumentation: Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
Written and recorded at Lake Wynonah, Pennsylvania
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= | doubling time |
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= | time |
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= | growth rate |
Doubling time is the amount of time it takes for a quantity to double in size (exponential growth). For instance, if you invest your money at 10%, it will take about 7 years to double your money. For every $1,000 invested today, you will accumulate $128,000 in 49 years.
The same principle holds true with the accumulated impact of climate change. By 2020, there was enough data to see the “doubling period” of some anthropogenic climate affects had gone from 100 years to 10 years. For instance, the rate of sea level rise has gone from about 1.5 millimeters per year to over 3 millimeters. We expect to see the doubling period to continue to shrink raising the possibility of sea levels rising a foot/year by 2050.
Though the rate of change in climate disasters’ intensity, duration, and likelihood vary according to the type of extreme weather, a “rule-of-thumb” can be derived from the Canada wildfires of 2023. The World Weather Attribution Organization found, “Climate change made the cumulative severity of Quebec’s 2023 fire season to the end of July around 50% more intense, and seasons of this severity at least seven times more likely to occur.”
50% more intense
7 x more likely
These numbers may be similar in other catastrophes like hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, floods, tornadoes, and sea level rise.
If the doubling time remains at 10 years, we could see extreme events 100% more intense and/or longer in duration, as well as, 14 times more likely to occur. As mentioned above, we expect the doubling time to be reduced. If the doubling time is 5 years, in ten years we could see 200% more intense and longer extreme weather events being 28 times more likely to occur.
— from Climate Change: Rate of Acceleration / Brouse and Mukherjee (2023)