Climate dangers surround the planet... and scientists warn

Prominent scientists have warned that the "vital indicators" of the planet are declining due to the fluctuations in the global economy, expressing concern about the possibility of "climate collapses" in the absence of emergency measures to reduce pollution.

These researchers, who belong to a group of more than fourteen thousand scientists who have called for declaring a climate emergency at the global level, considered that governments have systematically failed to address the causes of climate change represented in the "overexploitation of the land."

After a previous assessment conducted in 2019, the researchers highlighted the unprecedented increase since then in climate disasters, from floods to heat waves, through to hurricanes and fires.

Of the 31 vital indicators for the planet, including greenhouse gas emissions, glacier thickness or deforestation, 18 have reached record levels, according to the research findings published in the journal Bio Science.

Despite the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the concentrations of carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere reached record levels in 2021.

The glaciers are melting 31% faster than they were fifteen years ago.

Record deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon also hit a record in 2020, turning this critical carbon sink into a net source of carbon dioxide emissions.

The study showed that the number of livestock around the world exceeded 4 billion, including cows and sheep, which now exceed the mass of humans and wild animals combined.

Tim Linton of Britain's University of Exeter, one of the study's authors, said: "We must respond to the evidence that shows that we are heading towards climate breaking points, and take urgent action to decarbonize the economy and start restoring nature rather than destroying it."

The authors of the study said that there is already "increasing evidence that we are approaching, if not already past" some of the tipping points that could drag the climate system towards radical and irreversible change.

This includes melting ice caps in Greenland and Antarctica, which may be irreversible for centuries even if CO2 emissions are reduced.

Another potential point of no return relates to coral reefs, which are particularly threatened by global warming, on which half a billion people depend.

The authors of the study called for rapid, drastic action in several areas, including the complete elimination of fossil energy sources, reduction of pollution, restoration of ecosystems, choosing plant-based diets, moving away from the current growth model, and stabilizing the global population.

William Ripple of Oregon State University stressed that "we need to stop treating the climate emergency as a separate problem, as warming is not the only problem in our compact Earth system."

"Policies to address the climate crisis or any other symptom must address the source of the problem, which is the over-exploitation of the planet by humans," Ripple said.

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