Earth’s ‘vital signs’ show humanity’s future in balance. Human population is increasing at the rate of approximately 200,000 people a day and the number of cattle and sheep by 170,000 a day, all adding to record greenhouse gas emissions.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/oct/08/earths-vital-signs-show-humanitys-future-in-balance-say-climate-experts
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Many of the Earth’s “vital signs” have hit record extremes, indicating that “the future of humanity hangs in the balance”, a group of the world’s most senior climate experts has said.
More and more scientists are now looking into the possibility of societal collapse, said the report, which assessed 35 vital signs in 2023 and found that 25 were worse than ever recorded, including carbon dioxide levels and human population. This indicates a “critical and unpredictable new phase of the climate crisis”, they said.
The temperature of the Earth’s surface and oceans hit an all-time high, driven by record burning of fossil fuels, the report found. Human population is increasing at the rate of approximately 200,000 people a day and the number of cattle and sheep by 170,000 a day, all adding to record greenhouse gas emissions.
The scientists identified 28 feedback loops, including increasing emissions from melting permafrost, which could help trigger multiple tipping points, such as the collapse of the massive Greenland icecap.
Global heating is driving increasingly deadly extreme weather across the world, they said, including hurricanes in the US and 50C heatwaves in India, with billions of people now exposed to extreme heat.
The scientists said their goal was “to provide clear, evidence-based insights that inspire informed and bold responses from citizens to researchers and world leaders – we just want to act truthfully and tell it like it is”. Decisive, fast action was imperative, they said, to limit human suffering, including slashing fossil fuel burning and methane emissions, cutting overconsumption and waste by the rich, and encouraging a switch towards plant-based foods.
[https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/advance-article/doi/10.1093/biosci/biae087/7808595?login=false](https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/advance-article/doi/10.1093/biosci/biae087/7808595?login=false)
Can we off-gas excess CO2 into space?
Temperatures have hit an all time high since 1880.
But some claim temperatures were warm during the “medieval warm period” between 950-1250AD.
Although reliable data is unavailable, I wonder what could have raised temps during a pre-industrial era which has warranted having its own era.
Kind of crazy that it’s expanding that fast when large parts of the developed world have plummeting birth rates. Also, and I cannot stress this enough, we need to be eating less red meat.
yes, because the industries pumping who-knows-what into the environment, because the fines (if any) are cheaper than doing it right, have nothing to do with it.
I was told we weren’t having enough babies.
doing my part by not having kids
At some point we need to have a serious discussion on what the limit to the human population should be on Earth. Even if you don’t believe for some reason that we realistically exceeded that already, what will that number be? It has to exist at some level. We can’t just rely on limitless growth because that will just lead to our own destruction like a cancer eating up the only body it exists on.
200,000 a DAY??
_Oh God…_
This made me interested in what the Keeling curve looks like, and I found this depressing fact:
“The monthly average concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere measured at NOAA’s Mauna Loa Observatory in March 2024 was 4.7 parts per million (ppm) higher than that recorded in March 2023, setting a new record and revealing the increasing pace of CO2 addition to the atmosphere by human activities.”
https://keelingcurve.ucsd.edu/2024/05/08/largest-year-over-year-gain-in-keeling-curve-set-in-march/