The scientists, led by eminent researchers like Jane Goodall, EO Wilson and James Hansen, have signed a warning published in the journal BioScience this Monday. Titled “World Scientists' Warning to Humanity: A Second Notice,” the article has 15,372 signatories across scientific fields of research. It’s possibly the largest-ever coalition to show solidarity with a scientific piece.
The scientists explain that the state of humanity right now, as well as our future existence, are at serious risk from climate change, deforestation, loss of freshwater, extinctions and the population boom. The current article is actually a sequel to a warning originally printed in 1992, 25 years ago. That was signed by 1,700 scientists, including most Nobel Prize science winners alive at the time
We did the update because we wanted to let the public know where we stand today,” William Ripple, an ecologist at Oregon State University and co-author on the “Second Notice” article, told Motherboard. “Since 1992, carbon dioxide emissions have jumped 62 percent and the global temperature is up 29 percent, while the abundance of vertebrate wildlife has plunged 29 percent.”
According to the research team’s data, there’s been a 26 percent reduction in the amount of freshwater available per capita, and a 75 percent increase in the number of ocean dead zones. These are spots in the oceans where human-caused pollutants have depleted the oxygen, making it incapable of supporting marine life. In addition, nearly 300 million acres of forestland have been lost across the world. All of this in the last 25 years.
“These are alarming trends. We need the services provided by nature for our own survival,” Ripple added.
In fact, the only bit of positive news the researchers had to announce was that the hole in the ozone layer was healing, thanks to the world’s efforts under the Montreal Protocol. That, and the fact that countries are, promisingly, moving towards renewable energy.
Mainstream media largely ignored the original warning published in 1992. Ripple and his team members hope that this time around, their warning won’t go unheeded