That's what we face if we don't stop climate change, according to a warning from 11,000 scientists:
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 BioScience 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.
These changes are achievable: we have the technology. Implementing it, however, requires political will. And that is what is lacking. Worldwide, our political establishments are deeply corrupt, in hock to the polluting industries which have caused this problem, afraid to change the status quo because their backers and funders will lose out (and yes, that means you, James Shaw and Jacinda Ardern, with your chickenshit targets and sellout to farmers). But with no more time for procrastination and fudging, they need to make a choice: act, or be utterly discredited. Because we are going to solve this problem. These industries are going to be destroyed, just as the massive horse industry was with the invention of the motor-car and the tractor, or candles by electric light. The only question for the politicians is whose side they're going to be on, and whether they want to be swept away with their polluter mates.
Meanwhile, the US has begun the process to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, signalling their refusal to take action. The rest of the world should respond with a blockade and trade sanctions. In the interim, you can start reducing American emissions by voting with your wallet and not buying American.
