Climate Crisis: 11,000 Scientists Warn of Untold Suffering'

Climate crisis: 11,000 scientists warn of
‘untold suffering’
By:Damian Carrington
A man uses a garden hose to try to save his home from wildfire in Granada Hills, California, on
11 October 2019. Photograph: Michael Owen Baker/AP
The world’s people face “untold suffering due to the climate crisis” unless there
are major transformations to global society, according to a stark warning from
more than 11,000 scientists. “We declare clearly and unequivocally that planet
Earth is facing a climate emergency,” it states. “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.” 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.” The statement is published in the journal Bio-Science on
the 40th anniversary of the first world climate conference, which was held in
Geneva in 1979. The statement was a collaboration of dozens of scientists and
endorsed by further 11,000 from 153 nations. The scientists say the urgent
changes needed include ending population growth, leaving fossil fuels in the
ground, halting forest destruction and slashing meat eating.
Prof William Ripple, of Oregon State University and the lead author of the
statement, said he was driven to initiate it by the increase in extreme weather he
was seeing. A key aim of the warning is to set out a full range of “vital sign”
indicators of the causes and effects of climate breakdown, rather than only
carbon emissions and surface temperature rise. Other “profoundly troubling
signs from human activities” selected by the scientists include booming air
passenger numbers and world GDP growth.
“The climate crisis is closely linked to excessive consumption of the wealthy

lifestyle,” they said. As a result of these human activities, there are “especially
disturbing” trends of increasing land and ocean temperatures, rising sea levels
and extreme weather events, 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.”
“We urge widespread use of the vital signs [to] allow policymakers and the public
to understand the magnitude of the crisis, realign priorities and track progress,”
the scientists said. “You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to look at the graphs
and know things are going wrong,” said Newsome. “But it is not too late.” The
scientists identify some encouraging signs, including decreasing global birth
rates, increasing solar and wind power and fossil fuel divestment. Rates of forest
destruction in the Amazon had also been falling until a recent increase under new
president Jair Bolsonaro.
They set out a series of urgently needed actions:
 Use energy far more efficiently and apply strong carbon taxes to cut fossil
fuel use
 Stabilize global population – currently growing by 200,000 people a day –
using ethical approaches such as longer education for girls
 End the destruction of nature and restore forests and mangroves to absorb
CO2
 Eat mostly plants and less meat, and reduce food waste
 Shift economic goals away from GDP growth
A warning of the dangers of pollution and a looming mass extinction of wildlife

on Earth, also led by Ripple, was published in 2017. It was supported by more
than 15,000 scientists and read out in parliaments from Canada to Israel. It came
25 years after the original “World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity” in 1992,
which said: “A great change in our stewardship of the Earth and the life on it is
required, if vast human misery is to be avoided.”Ripple said scientists have a
moral obligation to issue warnings of catastrophic threats: “It is more important
than ever that we speak out, based on evidence. It is time to go beyond just
research and publishing, and to go directly to the citizens and policymakers.”

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Climate Crisis: 11,000 Scientists Warn of Untold Suffering'

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Climate crisis: 11,000 scientists warn of

“The climate crisis is closely linked to excessive consumption of the wealthy

They set out a series of urgently needed actions:

A warning of the dangers of pollution and a looming mass extinction of wildlife

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