An international coalition of climate scientists has warned that Earth’s vital signs have entered ‘uncharted territory’ that imperils life.
In a report published today, the experts warned that 20 of the 35 metrics they used to track climate change have reached record extremes.
Moreover, data presented by the team shows that many climate-related records were broken by “enormous margins” this year — particularly those relating to ocean temperatures and sea ice.
The researchers also draw attention to this year’s extraordinary Canadian wildfire season, which they note produced unprecedented levels of carbon dioxide emissions.
The report comes four years after the same authors published their “World Scientists’ Warning of a Climate Emergency”, which was co-signed by more than 15,000 scientists across 161 countries.
The report was authored by ecologist Professor William Ripple of the Oregon State University, Dr Christopher Wolf of Corvallis-based Terrestrial Ecosystems Research Associates and 10 other US and international experts.
Ripple said: “Life on our planet is clearly under siege. The statistical trends show deeply alarming patterns of climate-related variables and disasters.
“We also found little progress to report as far as humanity combating climate change.”
Wolf added: “Without actions that address the root problem of humanity taking more from the Earth than it can safely give, we’re on our way to the potential collapse of natural and socioeconomic systems and a world with unbearable heat and shortages of food and freshwater.”
Wolf continued: “As scientists, we are hugely troubled by the sudden increases in the frequency and severity of climate-related disasters.
“The frequency and severity of those disasters might be outpacing rising temperatures.
“By the end of the 21st century, as many as three to six billion people may find themselves outside the Earth’s livable regions.”
This, he explains, means “they will be encountering severe heat, limited food availability and elevated mortality rates.”
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Policies are needed, the researchers said, that take aim at the underlying issue of “ecological overshoot”.
When humanity’s demand on Earth’s resources is too large, they explained, the result is an array of environmental crises — including a decline in biodiversity.
As long as we continue to place such pressures on our world, the team said, strategies that focus only on carbon and climate will simply redistribute the pressure.
Ripple said: “Our goal is to communicate climate facts and make policy recommendations.
“It is a moral duty of scientists and our institutions to alert humanity of any potential existential threat and to show leadership in taking action.”
The researchers recommend adjusting to a global economy that prioritizes human well-being, and reduces overconsumption and excessive emissions by the rich.
Their specific recommendations include the phasing out of fossil fuel subsidies; the adoption of international coal-elimination and fossil fuel non-proliferation treaties; the scaling up of global forest protection efforts; and a transition towards plant-based diets.
All climate-related actions, they added, need to be grounded in equity and social justice — given how extreme weather and other climate impacts are being disproportionately felt by the world’s poorest people who have also contributed the least to climate change.
The full findings of the study were published in the journal BioScience.
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