15,000 Scientists Write Letter To Give ‘Catastrophic Warning’ About Humanity’s Fate

If a group of 15,000 scientists from across the world say they have one warning for humanity, it’s probably important, right? Besides, these experts know what they’re talking about so getting a singular message from them is surely a big deal.

According to reports, the Union of Concerned Scientists recently released a letter that warns the world about the dangers we can all face in the future. The message is actually an update to the original message written in 1992 which was backed by 1,700 scientists at the time.

15,000 scientists have sent a catastrophic warning about humanity’s fate.

Now with a larger number, the scientists report that things have actually gotten worse since the first message was sent back in 1992.

Fast forward to today and we’re still facing a lot of environmental problems and it looks like there’s no slowing down anytime soon. Only the ozone layer’s hole has improved but the other threats have definitely gone really, really bad.

According to the letter, these things happened within the past 25 years:

1. The amount of fresh water available per head of population worldwide has reduced by 26%.
2. The number of ocean “dead zones” – places where little can live because of pollution and oxygen starvation – has increased by 75%.
3. Nearly 300 million acres of forest have been lost, mostly to make way for agricultural land.
4. Global carbon emissions and average temperatures have shown continued significant increases.
5. Human population has risen by 35%.
6. Collectively the number of mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish in the world has fallen by 29%.

“Scientists, media influencers and lay citizens” are not doing enough to solve the problem, the letter said.

We must act soon if we want to escape the terrible consequences, encouraged the scientists.

As they tell us through the letter:

“Soon it will be too late to shift course away from our failing trajectory, and time is running out. We must recognize, in our day-to-day lives and in our governing institutions, that Earth with all its life is our only home.”

This is mankind’s second warning – and we should take it for granted.

Meanwhile, Professor William Ripple of Oregon State University wrote in the BioScience journal, saying:

“Humanity is now being given a second notice … We are jeopardizing our future by not reining in our intense but geographically and demographically uneven material consumption and by not perceiving continued rapid population growth as a primary driver behind many ecological and even societal threats.

“By failing to adequately limit population growth, reassess the role of an economy rooted in growth, reduce greenhouse gases, incentivize renewable energy, protect habitat, restore ecosystems, curb pollution, halt defaunation, and constrain invasive alien species, humanity is not taking the urgent steps needed to safeguard our imperiled biosphere.”

This is not a drill. Wake up, people!

Prof Ripple further added:

“Those who signed this second warning aren’t just raising a false alarm. They are acknowledging the obvious signs that we are heading down an unsustainable path.

“We are hoping that our paper will ignite a widespread public debate about the global environment and climate.”

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