A group of 11,258 scientists from 153 countries are declaring "clearly and unequivocally that planet Earth is facing a climate emergency."
In an article published Tuesday in BioScience, William J. Ripple and Christopher Wolf of the Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society at Oregon State University write it is their "moral obligation to clearly warn humanity of any catastrophic threat."
The declaration of a climate emergency comes one day after the Trump administration notified the United Nations that the United States, the country responsible for the second-largest amount of carbon emissions, is removing itself from the Paris climate accord.
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The article references climate data from the past 40 years, calls out global negotiations for failing to address the issue, and condemns the "business as usual" approach. The climate crisis is both moving faster and is more severe than many expected, the scientists say, threatening "the fate of humanity."
The article lays out six steps that should be taken to ease the worst impacts of climate change, pertaining to energy, short-lived pollutants, nature, food, economy, population. The thousands of signatories included both climate scientists and scientists with other focuses, like biologists and ecologists.
The good news, they say, is that is that implementing such changes "promises far greater human well-being than does business as usual," and they are encouraged by a recent uptick in concern for the planet.
But their message of urgency is clear — "prospects will be greatest if decision-makers and all of humanity promptly respond to this warning and declaration of a climate emergency and act to sustain life on planet Earth, our only home."
