Guardian

Europe’s politicians have moral responsibility to tackle air pollution, says WHO environment director

‘Impossible to live like this’: Italy’s Po Valley blighted by air pollution among worst in Europe

Charles III

Donald Trump

Elon Musk

Joe Biden

Nancy Pelosi

Xi Jinping

Rishi Sunak

Kamala Harris

Justin Trudeau

Narendra Modi

Bill Gates

Pope Francis

Janet Yellen

Emmanuel Macron

Olaf Scholz

Angela Merkel

Yuval Noah Harari

António Guterres

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Barack Obama

Kofi Annan

Michael Mann

James Inhofe

Greta Thunberg

David Attenborough

Giorgia Meloni

Patrick Michaels

Jane Goodall

Bjorn Lomborg

Freeman Dyson

Metaculus

"[C]limate change is just a very, very expensive form of tax."

"I believe in climate change caused by human beings. What I'm skeptical about is the glib notion that it means the end of the world as we know it."

"The clock is no longer just ticking, it is banging."

"There is no long-term prosperity without action on climate change."

"The time for seeking global solutions [to climate change] is running out."

"The climate crisis is the existential threat. That's not hyperbole; it's a fact."

"[W]e are killing our planet."

Climate change is "above all, an existential crisis."

"Climate change is one of the greatest challenges mankind faces."

"If we don't take action, the collapse of our civilisations and the extinction of much of the natural world is on the horizon."

"Humanity is on thin ice — and that ice is melting fast."

"We haven't yet exceeded the bounds of viable human civilisation, but we're getting close."

Is Climate Change an Existential Threat?

According to a recent study published on Wednesday in the journal Science Advances of the planet's life support systems, researchers at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) say industrial civilization is on the verge of or has already crossed the seventh of nine planetary bounderies.

The researchers say there has been a breach of the boundaries for climate change, biosphere integrity, land system change, freshwater change, biogeochemical flows, and the introduction of novel entities like synthetic chemicals or plastics.

Sustainable Views

The notion of planetary boundaries, initially introduced in 2009, highlights nine global objectives related to human-caused changes to the environment's stability and livability. While crossing a boundary does not imply that catastrophic changes will happen right away, they do indicate that the "patient" is not doing well. 

Rising CO2 emissions from fossil fuels are becoming unsustainable, approaching a breach of the seventh threshold for ocean acidification. More CO2 dissolves in ocean water as its emissions increase, according to Boris Sakschewski, one of the lead authors, making the oceans more acidic.

Yahoo! News

Intensifying ocean acidification negatively impacts corals, shellfish, and phytoplankton, essential for marine organisms. In addition, it interrupts the food supply for billions of people and limits the seas' ability to absorb more CO2 and reduce global warming.

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The researchers say there has been a transgression of the boundaries for climate change, biosphere integrity, land system change, freshwater change, biogeochemical flows, and the introduction of novel entities like synthetic chemicals or plastics.

Earth may have breached seven of nine planetary boundaries, health check shows

Earth may have breached seven of nine planetary boundaries, health check shows

The Controversies

Trump

Michaels

Harris

Sunak

Francis

Biden

Macron

Thunberg

Merkel

Attenborough

Guterres

Mann

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Earth may have breached seven of nine planetary boundaries, health check shows

Earth may have breached seven of nine planetary boundaries, health check shows

The Controversies

Trump

Michaels

Harris

Sunak

Francis

Biden

Macron

Thunberg

Merkel

Attenborough

Guterres

Mann

Articles on this story

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