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Bucket chain excavator in an opencast mine in Saxony: Consumption of natural resources is again as high as before the pandemic
Photo: Jan Woitas / dpa
Around two years after more than ten thousand scientists from around 150 countries jointly declared a global "climate emergency", they have now re-emphasized this and demanded immediate changes.
These changes are more urgent than ever to protect life on earth, according to an article published on Wednesday in the journal BioScience.
Almost at the same time, experts pointed out that global consumption of natural resources is estimated to have returned to about the level it was before the start of the corona pandemic.
In 2021, the so-called Earth Congestion Day will be Thursday (July 29), reports the Global Footprint Network, based in the USA and Switzerland.
A year ago, due to the pandemic, the deadline fell on August 22nd, 2019 it was already reached on July 26th.
On Earth Overload Day, all renewable resources for the current year are used up.
The most important indicator for this is CO2 emissions.
Increased urgency
The paper on the “climate emergency” was originally signed by around 11,000 scientists, including 871 researchers from German universities and institutes.
Now more than 2,800 other signatories have been added, it said.
Since the original declaration of the "climate emergency" in 2019, numerous events such as flood disasters, forest fires and heat waves have made it clear what consequences it would have if things continued as before on earth, the experts write.
For example, 2020 was the second hottest year on record.
In April 2021, the carbon dioxide concentration in the earth's atmosphere was higher than ever since measurements began.
Among other things, the researchers are calling for an end to the use of fossil fuels in the foreseeable future and better protection of biodiversity.
"The extreme climate events and patterns that we have observed over the past few years - and in the past few weeks - underscore the increased urgency with which we must address the climate crisis," said co-author Philip Duffy of the Woodwell Climate Research Center in the US state of Massachusetts.
Turning points are near or already exceeded
"There are growing signs that we are approaching turning points in various systems on earth, or have even passed them," said co-author William Ripple of Oregon State University. As examples, he cited the melting of the ice cover in West Antarctica and Greenland, but also the situation in the Amazon rainforest, which is developing from a carbon store to a carbon source (read more here). "We have to change our actions quickly, and climate requirements should be part of the Corona recovery plans wherever possible."
The scientists had already warned in 2019 that if human behavior, which leads to greenhouse gas emissions and other factors that favor climate change, does not change fundamentally and permanently, "unspeakable human suffering" can no longer be prevented.
Scientists had already initiated a similar contribution two years earlier.
jme / dpa
