Despite efforts by world governments to establish an acceptable level of global warming as a means of tackling climate change, some climatologists are arguing that it’s all too little too late. Last December, at a meeting in Paris, world leaders gathered to discuss what would be deemed an acceptable rise in global temperatures over the coming centuries in the face of an inevitable climate shift. According to the final draft agreed upon by those there, nations would try to hold the increase in global average temperature to 1.5ºC above pre-industrial levels, which was mooted as limiting the most damaging effects of climate change. Now, however, according to The New York Times, some of the world’s best-known climatologists have published a research paper warning that some of the worst effects of global warming are likely to be seen within a few decades, rather than centuries, as once predicted. Led by former NASA climatologist James E Hansen, the paper says that our burning of fossil fuels so far and in the coming years will contribute to a radical climate shift due to the introduction of fresh water from melting land ice.