A report in BioScience claims that Earth’s vital signs have worsened to the point that “humanity is unequivocally facing a climate emergency.”
The study, which involved researchers from the United States, Bangladesh, Germany and the United Kingdom, notes that 16 out of 35 biomarkers on the planet are used by the authors to track climate change at its most extreme.
The authors share new data demonstrating the increasing frequency of extreme heat events, increased global tree cover loss due to fires, and increased spread of the mosquito-borne dengue virus.
They also point to the significant increase in energy consumption from fossil fuels after the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown, despite increased commitments to withdraw fossil fuels, and atmospheric carbon dioxide levels rising to 418 parts per million, the highest number on record.
William Ripple, Distinguished Professor at Oregon State University College of Forestry, and postdoctoral researcher Christopher Wolf are lead authors of the report, and it is co-authored by 10 other international scientists. The report follows in five years the “Warning of the World’s Scientists for Humanity: A Second Warning,” published by Ripple in BioScience and co-signed by more than 15,000 scientists from 184 countries.
“As we can see from the annual increases in climate catastrophes, we are now in the midst of a major climate crisis, and much worse will come if we continue to do things the way we have been doing,” Wolf said. Us in advocating research-based approaches to climate and environmental decisions.
“Climate change is not an isolated problem. It is part of a larger systemic problem of environmental encroachments in which human demand exceeds the regenerative capacity of the biosphere,” says Saleem Ul-Haq of the Independent University of Bangladesh.
“To prevent further unspeakable human suffering, we need to protect nature, eliminate most fossil fuel emissions, support socially just climate adaptations, and focus on the most vulnerable low-income regions,” he says.
The report notes that in the three decades since more than 1,700 scientists signed the original “World Scientists’ Warning” to humanity in 1992, global greenhouse gas emissions have increased by 40%.
Thomas Newsom of the University of Sydney, Australia, said: “As the Earth warms, the frequency or magnitude of some types of climate disasters may increase. We urge our fellow scientists around the world to speak up about climate change.
The report is an update of an article published in BioScience three years ago. The Alliance of World Scientists, an independent organization formed to be a collective voice on environmental sustainability and human well-being, continues to bring together the co-signers of the 2019 document. To date, more than 14,000 scientists from 158 countries have signed.
The ongoing work to advance action against climate change by scientists around the world is chronicled in a new 35-minute documentary, World Warning. The film, produced by Oregon State Productions, is free to watch online after its October 14 premiere at the Newport Beach Film Festival (California).
World Warning also tells of Ripple’s personal journey: from Ripple’s childhood with low incomes in South Dakota in the 1950s to becoming an environmental scientist in Yellowstone and taking on a role as a global advocate for using science to make informed policy decisions.
Ripple notes, “Look at all these wildfires, floods and storms. The specter of climate change is at hand and it’s hitting hard.”
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