Thousands of scientists give a second notice to humanity

More than 15,000 scientists from 184 countries have published a second warning to humanity advising that we need to change our wicked ways to help the planet. Among them the FEME members signed this call.

This new message is an update of the original warning sent from the Union of Concerned Scientists 25 years ago. But today the picture is far worse than it was in 1992.

It's true that some progress had been made in some areas - such as cutting ozone-depleting chemicals, and increasing energy generated from renewable sources - but this was far outweighed by the damaging trends.

In the past 25 years:

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

Many of our current practices put at serious risk the future that we wish for human society and the plant and animal kingdoms, and may so alter the living world that it will be unable to sustain life in the manner that we know.

In this letter scientists give 13 suggestions for managing our impact on the planet, including establishing nature reserves, reducing food waste, developing green technologies and establishing economic incentives to shift patterns of consumption.

We can all do something every day to stop this negative trend. Take a look at the article here:

Ripple, W. J., et al., (2017). World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity: A Second Notice. BioScience.