Earth has reached 'Code Red' in pollution

We are on red weather alert. CO2 levels are the highest on record, reaching 418 parts per million, according to the latest New World Scientists’ Warning of a Climate Emergency 2022 report, which shows that climate change has pushed our planet into “code red”.

Thus, according to a new report from an international team of scientists led by Oregon State University (OSU), our planet’s vital signs have reached “code red” and “humanity is unequivocally facing a climate emergency.

climate emergency

The report is written by 10 global scientists, led by Oregon State University.

The researchers show that 16 of the 35 planetary vital signs they use to track climate change are currently at record extremes, including heat waves, increased global loss of forest cover due to wildfires, increased prevalence of mosquito-borne infectious diseases and atmospheric carbon dioxide levels (which have now reached 418 parts per million, the highest ever recorded).

“Look at all these massive heat waves, fires, floods and storms. The specter of climate change is at the door and knocking hard. As we can see from the annual surges in weather disasters, we are now in the midst of a major climate crisis, and the worst is yet to come if we keep doing things the way we’ve been doing them,” say the authors from Oregon State University. who publish their study in the journal BioScience.

Far from the promises

“Climate change is not an isolated problem,” said study co-author Saleemul Huq of the Bangladesh Independent University. “To prevent further untold human suffering, we must protect nature, eliminate most fossil fuel emissions, and support socially just climate adaptations with a focus on low-income areas that are most vulnerable.”

Since in 1992, almost 2,000 scientists signed the original version of ‘Warning for humanity from the world’s scientists’, as the report is titled, global emissions of greenhouse gases , far from falling, have increased by 40 % .

“As Earth’s temperatures rise, the frequency or magnitude of some types of climate disasters may actually be increasing,” says Thomas Newsome of the University of Sydney, and co-author of the climate emergency report. “We urge our fellow scientists around the world to speak up about climate change .”

Referencia: William J Ripple et al, World Scientists’ Warning of a Climate Emergency 2022, BioScience (2022). DOI: 10.1093/biosci/biac083

William J. Ripple et al, World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity: A Second Notice, BioScience (2017) DOI: 10.1093/biosci/bix125