NEW DELHI: A group of scientists on Wednesday, July 28, said that the world’s business-as-usual approach towards the rapidly changing earth’s landscape due to climate change is causing Earth’s ‘vital signs’ to deteriorate at record levels. The scientists are a part of a group of over 14,000 scientists that signed an initiative that declared a worldwide climate emergency. Scientists blamed governments’ overexploitation of earth’s resources and the consistent failure to address the issue for the current situation.
The vitals included the health of flora and fauna, greenhouse gas emissions, glaciers melting and the sea-ice extent. An assessment conducted on the same lines in 2019 found a surge in climate-related disasters, forecasting a flood in South America and Southeast Asia, heatwaves and wildfires in Australia and the USA. Scientists observed unprecedented levels of melting glaciers (31 per cent) and low levels of ice mass. A paper published in ‘Communications Earth & Environment’ noted that the Arctic’s ‘Last Ice Area’ is showing early signs of melting.
The researchers said that evidence suggests we are nearing or have already crossed a number of climate tipping points. A study published in the journal ‘BioScience’ stressed the immediate need for short, frequent, and easily accessible updates on climate emergency. The author called for transformative change and suggested that we eliminate the use of fossil fuels, restore ecosystems, and switch to plant-based diets.