1116. Perilous Times on Planet Earth

On October 8, BioScience published an article titled "The 2024 State of the Climate Report: Perilous Times on Planet Earth." Here's the message.

We are on the brink of an irreversible climate disaster. This is an undeniable global emergency. Many life forms on Earth are at stake, and we are entering a phase of a new climate crisis that is both significant and unpredictable.

Over the years, more than 15,000 scientists have sounded the alarm about the imminent dangers of climate change caused by rising greenhouse gas emissions and ecological changes. For half a century, global warming has been correctly predicted even before it was observed. Despite these warnings, we are still going in the wrong direction. Fossil fuel emissions are at an all-time high, with a series of record-breaking hot days observed in July 2024, and with current policies, we expect to see a warming by about 2.7°C by 2100.

Tragically, we have not been able to avoid serious consequences, and now we can only hope to limit the scope of the damage. We are witnessing the stark reality of escalating climate impacts, unprecedented disasters around the world, and both human and environmental damage. The evidence we observe is alarming and undeniable, but it is this shock that drives us to action.

We recognize the deep urgency of addressing this global challenge, particularly the frightening prospects facing the world's poor. We feel the courage and determination to seek transformative solutions based on science in all aspects of society. Our goal is to provide clear, evidence-based insights that inspire informed and bold responses from citizens to researchers to world leaders.

Rapidly reducing the use of fossil fuels should be a top priority. This could be achieved in part by a sufficiently high global carbon price that could fund much-needed climate mitigation and adaptation programs while curbing emissions by the wealthy. In addition, pricing and reducing methane emissions are important for effective mitigation of climate change. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, and unlike carbon dioxide, which remains in the atmosphere for centuries, it has a relatively short life in the atmosphere, so the impact of the reduction will be greater in the short term.

In a world where resources are finite, infinite growth is a dangerous illusion. In particular, it is necessary to adopt ecological and post-growth economic frameworks to ensure social justice, to significantly reduce overconsumption and waste by the wealthy, to stabilize and gradually reduce the population by strengthening the education and rights of girls and women, to encourage the transformation of food production systems to support the shift to a plant-based diet. Climate change education should be integrated into secondary and tertiary curricula around the world to raise awareness, improve climate literacy, and encourage behavioral change. We also need to work more quickly to protect and restore ecosystems, or to return them to nature again.

The fact that climate disasters are increasing year by year shows that we are in a major crisis and that it will get worse if we continue with business as usual. For a stable climate system that has sustained us for thousands of years, it is more important than ever to review our actions. The future of humanity depends on our creativity, morality and perseverance. We must immediately pursue large-scale climate change mitigation and adaptation to urgently reduce ecosystem overshoot and limit short-term damage. By taking decisive action, we will protect the natural world, avoid severe human suffering, and enable future generations to inherit a livable world.

Reference
William Ripple et al, The 2024 state of the climate report: Perilous times on planet Earth, BioScience (2024). https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/advance-article/doi/10.1093/biosci/…

Contributor: IIYAMA Miyuki, Information Program