Tuesday, November 05, 2019

The Climate Emergency

The world’s people face “untold suffering due to the climate crisis” unless there are major transformations to global society, according to a warning from more than 11,000 scientists.

There is no time to lose, the scientists say: “The climate crisis has arrived and is accelerating faster than most scientists expected. It is more severe than anticipated, threatening natural ecosystems and the fate of humanity.”

“We declare clearly and unequivocally that planet Earth is facing a climate emergency. To secure a sustainable future, we must change how we live. This entails major transformations in the ways our global society functions and interacts with natural ecosystems.”

The scientists say the urgent changes needed include ending population growth, leaving fossil fuels in the ground, halting forest destruction and slashing meat eating. 

“The climate crisis is closely linked to excessive consumption of the wealthy lifestyle,” they said.

“A broader set of indicators should be monitored, including human population growth, meat consumption, tree-cover loss, energy consumption, fossil-fuel subsidies and annual economic losses to extreme weather events,” said co-author Thomas Newsome, of the University of Sydney.

The scientists said: “Despite 40 years of global climate negotiations, with few exceptions, we have largely failed to address this predicament. Especially worrisome are potential irreversible climate tipping points. These climate chain reactions could cause significant disruptions to ecosystems, society, and economies, potentially making large areas of Earth uninhabitable.”

Just to pick up on one point that shows that even the scientific community is not infallible and still have a ways to go to understand the potential remedy of socialism, the report calls for the stabilisation of the global population. They are in fact pushing against an open door since fertility rates are falling world-wide and population projections for the future shows that with the noticeable exception of some countries in Africa, the population rise will plateau and then begin to gradually decline. As they point out the empowerment of women is a key factor but generally speaking, reducing poverty reduces the rate of population increases. 

Until the scientists disavow the capitalist system of exploitation and inequality then they will not reach a no permanent solution.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/05/climate-crisis-11000-scientists-warn-of-untold-suffering

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