A global team of scientists has declared a climate emergency.
More than 11,000 experts warn that “untold human suffering” is unavoidable without profound shifts in activity.
The apocalyptic announcement is based on analysis of 40-plus years of publicly available data covering a range of measures—including energy use, surface temperature, population growth, deforestation, polar ice mass, fertility rates, and carbon emissions.
“Scientists have a moral obligation to warn humanity of any great threat,” according to study co-author Thomas Newsome, a lecturer in the School of Life and Environmental Sciences at the University of Sydney. “From the data we have, it is clear we are facing a climate emergency.”
But there is a glimmer of hope.
In a paper published this week by the journal BioScience, authors from universities in Australia, South Africa, and the US—along with more than 11,000 signatories from 153 countries—outlined six areas of action.
- Energy: Implement massive conservation practices; replace fossil fuels with clean renewables; leave remaining stocks of fossil fuels in the ground; eliminate subsidies to fossil fuel companies; impose carbon fees high enough to restrain the use of fossil fuels.
- Short-lived pollutants: Swiftly cut emissions of methane, hydrofluorocarbons, soot,and other short-lived climate pollutants to help reduce the short-term warming trend by more than 50 percent over the next few decades.
- Nature: Restrain massive land clearing; restore and protect ecosystems such as forests, grasslands and mangroves, which would greatly contribute to the sequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide—a key greenhouse gas.
- Food: Eat mostly plants and consume fewer animal products to significantly reduce emissions of methane and other greenhouse gases and free up agricultural lands for growing human food rather than livestock feed. Reducing food waste is also critical: Scientists say at least one-third of all food produced ends up as garbage.
- Economy: Convert the economy’s reliance on carbon fuels to address human dependence on the biosphere; shift goals away from the growth of gross domestic product and the pursuit of affluence; curtail the extraction of materials and exploitation of ecosystems to maintain long-term biosphere sustainability.
- Population: Stabilise global population, which is increasing by more than 200,000 people a day, using approaches that ensure social and economic justice.
“Mitigating and adapting to climate change means transforming the ways we govern, manage, eat, and fulfill material and energy requirements,” the paper said.
The five-year period ending in 2019 is set to be the warmest on record, according to a recent report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
The study suggests global average temperatures have increased 1.1 °C (1.98 °F) since pre-industrial days (1850-1900)—and by 0.2 °C (0.36 °F) compared to 2011-2015.
(As someone who just spent five sweaty days traipsing around Florida theme parks, I can attest to the rising temperatures.)
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