Climate emergency declared by over 11,000 scientists

November 5, 2019

It is now exactly 40 years since scientists from 50 nations met in Geneva, Switzerland, for the First World Climate Conference. They agreed then that it was necessary to act against climate change. Similar agreements were made in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, with the 1997 Kyoto Protocol and the 2015 Paris Agreement. Yet as the scientists' statement points out, “Despite 40 years of global climate negotiations, with few exceptions, we have have largely failed to address this predicament."

They go on to point out that the world's greenhouse gas emissions are still rising and that significant action needs to be taken to prevent "untold suffering" due to the climate crisis. The statement continues, “To secure a sustainable future, we must change how we live." And achieving this will mean "major transformations in the ways our global society functions and interacts with natural ecosystems.”

Among the many urgent changes the scientists suggest are reducing our meat consumption and eating more plant-based foods to reduce short-lived pollutants like methane, which is more than 80 times more potent a greenhouse gas as carbon dioxide over a 20 year period; leaving fossil fuels in the ground and shifting to a carbon-free economy; halting forest destruction and increasing reforestation on a huge scale; doing much more to protect the natural world, including coral reefs, forests, wetlands, grasslands and peatlands; stabilising the world's population, which is currently growing at a rate of around 80 million a year; and shifting global goals from gross domestic product (GDP) growth to sustaining ecosystems and improving human wellbeing by reducing inequality and prioritising basic needs.

There is still hope and much to be gained from acting swiftly. The scientists conclude "The good news is that such transformative change, with social and economic justice for all, promises far greater human well-being than does business as usual. We believe that the prospects will be greatest if decision-makers and all of humanity promptly respond to this warning and declaration of a climate emergency and act to sustain life on planet Earth, our only home."

No items found.

What can your leftovers do? Food waste bins and their success

Timber...

Possible highest ever temperature recorded on Earth

UK aims for 68% emissions cut by 2030

Snowflakes

Genetically Modified Foods

Climate Change for Parents

Climate change

Bees

Rainforests Assembly

Climate Change Assembly

Home Learning Activity: Make your own bioplastic

Home Learning Activity: Milk bottle elephants

Home Learning Pack: Super Soil

Home Learning Pack: Reduce, Re-use, Recycle

YPTE Green News - Issue 3

Climate Change for parents

Meet Ellayna, another of YPTE's Young Trustees

Have your say on sustainability - Tara, age 11 - Eurostar / YPTE Competition winner

Interested in our current initiatives?

Our Supporters

Explore Related Resources