(RightIsRight.co) – “By the end of this century, an estimated 3 to 6 billion individuals… might find themselves confined beyond the livable region, encountering severe heat, limited food availability, and elevated mortality rates because of the effects of climate change.” This is the ominous threat made in a recently published “2023 state of the climate report” in BioScience.
The authors, researchers William J. Ripple and Christopher Wolf, among others, emphasize the urgent need to view climate change as more than just an environmental concern. They see it as a “systemic, existential threat” and stress the importance of shifting away from the culture of overconsumption and continuous growth.
The report suggests methods like “reducing, reusing, and recycling waste in a more circular economy.” Additionally, the researchers advocate for “climate justice” and the fair allocation of costs and benefits related to climate action, especially for vulnerable groups.
Interestingly, the paper also endorses population control, suggesting measures like “voluntary family planning” and supporting women’s education and rights, which they believe can both reduce fertility rates and elevate living standards.
The researchers link recent significant weather events and disasters affecting areas like northern China, northern India, the United States, and Libya to the effects of climate change.
However, not everyone in the scientific community agrees with these conclusions. A notable counterargument came in the form of the “World Climate Declaration,” signed by over 1,600 scientists, including two Nobel Prize winners. They state firmly, “There is no climate emergency.” The Declaration argues that climate science discussions have become more about beliefs than concrete science.
The signatories of the Declaration highlight several issues with current climate change perspectives: inaccurate climate models, the mischaracterization of carbon dioxide as a pollutant, and the notion that climate change is intensifying natural disasters. They state that Earth’s climate has always been variable and that the current warming period is expected after the end of the Little Ice Age in 1850.
Furthermore, the Declaration asserts that the world hasn’t warmed as much as some models predicted and that the difference between observed and predicted temperatures indicates our limited understanding of climate change. They strongly oppose the net-zero CO2 policy proposed for 2050, considering there’s no real climate emergency.
