In the article “The rise of end times fascism,” Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor argue that “the governing ideology of the far right has become a monstrous, supremacist survivalism.” They underline the urgent need to build a movement strong enough to stop them. The authors write: “To put it bluntly, the most powerful people in the world are preparing for the end of the world, an end they themselves are frenetically accelerating. ... Interestingly, at a time when previously secular Silicon Valley elites are suddenly finding Jesus, it is noteworthy that both of these visions – the priority-pass corporate state and the mass-market bunker nation – share a great deal in common with the Christian fundamentalist interpretation of the biblical Rapture, when the faithful will supposedly be lifted up to a golden city in heaven, while the damned are left to endure an apocalyptic final battle down here on earth. ... To bet against the future on this scale – to bank on your bunker – is to betray, on the most basic level, our duties to one another, to the children we love, and to every other life form with whom we share a planetary home. This is a belief system that is genocidal at its core and treasonous to the wonder and beauty of this world. We are convinced that the more people understand the extent to which the right has succumbed to the Armageddon complex, the more they will be willing to fight back, realizing that absolutely everything is now on the line.
These are important thoughts that highlight the selfish response of those who cause the HPEE to this emergency.
George Monbiot in his article tells of how the “All-Seeing Eye” would consider and interpret what it sees is happening on Earth. The eye is shocked to find the outstanding scientists not urgently tackling the emergency but rather occupied with creating knowledge that is nice to have. “It sees a species dominated by Lords of the Desert: people prepared to destroy everything as long as they can command the ruins. It wonders whether the species has a survival instinct at all, or whether, instead, it has only an instinct to obey.”
The 2024 Living Planet Report published on Oct. 10, 2024 by the World Wildlife Fund finds an average 73% decline in wildlife populations since 1970. This gross elimination of wildlife is achieved by what humanity is doing. The Earth is approaching dangerous tipping points posing grave threats not only to the remaining wildlife but also to humanity. The report finds that a huge collective effort will be required over the next five years to tackle the dual climate and nature crises.
This is what the new paper by Ripple et al. documents. In their latest warning to humanity, the authors start by saying “We are on the brink of an irreversible climate disaster. This is a global emergency beyond any doubt. Much of the very fabric of life on Earth is imperiled.” The authors show that many of Earth’s “vital signs” have hit record extremes, indicating that “the future of humanity hangs in the balance.&rduo; For a summary, read the article by Damian Carrington in The Guardian.
The paper by Fletcher et al. titled “Earth at risk: An urgent call to end the age of destruction and forge a just and sustainable future” published in PNAS Nexus documents that “Human development has ushered in an era of converging crises: climate change, ecological destruction, disease, pollution, and socioeconomic inequality.” Read the full article ...
Paul Beckwith: Only an Asteroid Hit or a Supervolcano this Week Can Keep Us Below 1.5 C According to Berkeley Earth. With one more week left to close out 2023, we are over 99% certain to surpass 1.5 C above the 1850 to 1900 baseline. We have had an exceptional acceleration in global warming this year, unlike anything we have ever seen before. The Berkeley Earth year end report link is here: https://berkeleyearth.org/november-20.
The latest edition of Just Think on YouTube, addresses the fact that many scientific assessments of climate change are far too conservative and underestimate the true scale of the risk for civilisation.
In an article in Times, Johan Rockström succinctly describes the emergency: “Humanity has reached a saturation point on planet Earth. There is no atmospheric space left to safely add more greenhouse gases, we cannot lose more intact nature or wild species, the oceans are at or beyond biological carrying capacity. We are hitting the planetary ceiling of hard-wired processes that regulate the stability and determine the livability on Earth. For the first time we face the risk of destabilizing the entire planet.”
Hans-Peter Plag had a dialog with ChatGPT (Version of March 2023) on the planetary emergency. ChatGPT agreed that "There is no doubt that we are facing a planetary emergency caused by a combination of environmental crises, including climate change, biodiversity loss, deforestation, air and water pollution, and the depletion of natural resources. The impacts of these crises are already being felt by many people around the world, and they are expected to worsen in the coming decades." The full dialog is available here.
In his article “A Plan for Human Survival” Julian Cribb concludes “The Earth is a lifeboat, sinking under the pressures of overcrowding and demand. We either row it together – or we go down together. The choice is stark, and it is now before us.” He lists the urgent actions needed to avoid the sinking of the boat:
In the article “Many risky feedback loops amplify the need for climate action” by William Ripple and colleagues state that many feedback loops are significantly increase the global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions. Since not all of these feedbacks are fully accounted for in climate models, the mitigation pathways could fail to sufficiently limit the increase in global temperature. There is a danger that not considering the possibility of much larger increases than those predicted for different pathways could lead to failed mitigation and adaptation efforts.
The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) has published the report “1.5°C – DEAD OR ALIVE?THE RISKS TO TRANSFORMATIONAL CHANGE FROM REACHING AND BREACHING THE PARIS AGREEMENT GOAL” (pdf) by Laurie Laybourn, Henry Throp and Suzannah Sherman. “This paper is an output of the Cohort 2040 project, in collaboration with IPPR and Chatham House. This project seeks to better understand how the millennial and younger generations can provide the effective and transformational leadership needed to secure a better world even as environmental destabilisation grows.” This report underlines the urgency of action to reduce the existential threats for future generations: “The historical failure to sufficiently tackle the climate and ecological crisis could create consequences that challenge the ability of societies to tackle the root causes of this crisis. The vast changes needed to limit global heating and restore nature must be achieved in ever shorter periods of time.”
The book “How to Fix a Broken Planet: Advice for Surviving the 21st Century” by Julian Cribb makes a strong case about the planetary emergency modern civilization has caused, and identifies the urgent steps that are needed if a collapase is to be avoided. The threats faced are thoroughly analysed and the actions needed are clearly identified.
In the blog “Here comes the Catastrophocene ...,” Julian Cribb gives a concise and comprehensive summary of the mega-threats the planetary system and humanity are facing.
The Council for the Human Future, Common Home of Humanity, and MAHB started the petition “A call to action: mega-risks we face and the solutions we need” at the end of the conference “Delivering the Human Future” on March 21, 2021.
The Club of Rome declared a Planetary Emergency in 2019 and published the first edition The Planetary Emergency Plan. More information is available on the Planetary Emergency Page. The Club of Rome maintaince the Planetary Emergency Impact Hub and is part of the Planetary Emergency Partnership.
William E. Rees, the creator of the ‘ecological footprint,’ argues that “the long-term human carrying capacity of Earth — after ecosystems have recovered from the current plague — is probably one to three billion people, depending on technology and material standards of living. ... Getting there would mean five to nine billion fewer people on the planet. This is where we end up after a recovery following either controlled descent or chaotic crash.”
In his book “Apologies to the Grandchildren — Reflections on our Ecological Predicament, Its Deeper Causes, and its Political Consequences,” Ophuls states “Civilization is, by its very nature, a long-running Ponzi scheme. It lives by robbing nature and borrowing from the future, exploiting its hinterland until there is nothing left to exploit, after which it implodes. While it still lives, it generates a temporary and fictitious surplus that it uses to enrich and empower the few and to dispossess and dominate the many. Industrial civilization is the apotheosis and quintessence of this fatal course. A fortunate minority gains luxuries and freedoms galore, but only by slaughtering, poisoning, and exhausting creation. So we bequeath you a ruined planet that dooms you to a hardscrabble existence, or perhaps none at all.”
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