Eight years? Nine years? Six years ago? A climate change activist guide to doomsday

Advocates of combating climate change are increasingly invoking doomsday scenarios to pressure President Biden to take unilateral action to lower greenhouse gas emissions, despite a history of such claims falling flat. 

The rhetoric is coming not only from progressive activists but also Democrats on Capitol Hill. Lawmakers, in particular, have intensified their doomsday predictions as hopes for a climate change deal have waned within the Senate in recent days. 

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., recently told supporters that if immediate action was not taken on climate change, an immigration and public health crisis was likely to appear by 2030. 

"Thousands of people are dying," said Sanders. "You’re going to see more mass migrations, more diseases … For the sake of future generations, our kids, our grandchildren, we have got to act." 

Concordia University echoed a similar message when publicizing its Climate Clock. Launched in 2020 to give world leaders a sense of urgency, the clock purports to denote the amount of time humanity has left to address climate change to avoid the most dangerous consequences of global warming.