2050. 

The end of the world has been the stuff of legend – movies have been made, soothsayers have predicted it, and now the judgment has officially been passed.

In another 31 years, 90% of mankind will be annihilated by climate change, says Australia’s Breakthrough National Centre for Climate Restoration (BNCCR). 

That means in 31 years, most of us will likely be dead.

 This is following up on the news that world leaders heard in the General Assembly earlier this year about the climate change emergency – 

“Only 11 years is all that remains to stop irreversible damage from climate change.”

Climate emergency is true and staring us in the face. 

11 years to stop irreversible damage from climate change. 31 years before we perish for good. 

It’s time to formally and historically acknowledge just how badly we are messing with Planet Earth.

Just last month, a 34-member panel consisting of eminent scientists of the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG) voted in favor of declaring a new epoch in the history of Earth: Anthropocene—an era when humans have a disproportionate impact on the planet. This new era signals the end of the Holocene Epoch, which began 11,650 years ago.

What is Anthropocene?

The term ‘Anthropocene’ was coined in the year 2000 by Nobel laureate Paul Crutzen and Eugene Stoermer. It refers to the current geological age in which human activity is the dominant influence on the environment. This new geological epoch is defined by human activities that have caused plastic trash overload, carbon emissions, atomic weapons, and industrial smog.

To put it simply, Anthropocene is the time period when humans make a significant impact on Earth’s geology and ecosystem.

But the term goes beyond just climate change and physical changes to the Earth. It also refers to the massive impact we have made on fellow Earthlings. And what an impact we have made!

A recent UN report revealed that 1 million species of animals and plants are now facing extinction due to human activity.

• Out of the 8 million animal and plant species on Earth, 1 million are threatened with extinction.
• More than 40% of amphibian species, almost 33% of corals and more than a third of all marine mammals are threatened
• 66% of the marine environment has been significantly altered and 33% marine mammals are threatened with extinction.

Now, with the latest bombshell, we are just confirming what scientists and environmentalists have been harping about for years.

The noose is around our neck.

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Should we take this report seriously?

The BNCCR findings may seem alarmist, but the cause for alarm is genuine, the report says. It argues that though the data is there for all to see, bodies like the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are not projecting the doomsday scenario realistically enough—that they are “erring on the side of least drama”.

“We must never forget that we are in a unique situation with no precise historic analogue. The level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is now greater, and the Earth warmer than what human beings have ever experienced. And there are almost eight billion of us now living on this planet.”

According to the study, we are marching towards an existential crisis at a much quicker trot than previously thought. It even questions the efficacy of the Paris Agreement that aims to cap global temperature rise to 3-5°C.

That’s bad enough for disaster, the BNCCR says. “…3°C of warming already constitutes an existential risk,” says the study.

The BNCCR claims that a 3°C rise would correspond to a 0.5m rise in sea levels endangering coastal areas around the world.

Mumbai, Shanghai and other cities at risk

A 3°C rise in temperatures would correspond to a 0.5m rise in sea levels endangering coastal areas around the world. “If climate change was to reach 3°C, most of Bangladesh and Florida would drown, while major coastal cities — Shanghai, Lagos, Mumbai — would be swamped, likely creating large flows of climate refugees,” says the study.

Besides, when temperatures rise more than 3°C, the domino effect that will be hard to roll back. Think no more polar ice caps to reflect the sun’s rays and heat, Arctic permafrost defrosting to release methane into the atmosphere and other such horrendous things that will only make the Earth hotter still. A 4°C rise could annihilate up to 80-90% of the global human population, say the study.

The think-tank estimates that if nothing is done, by 2050 up to 1 billion people currently residing in West Africa and the Middle East will have to relocate because the climate conditions there will make these places unliveable. Other parts of the world will experience more than 20 days of “record-breaking heatwaves and wildfires, more intense flooding and more damaging hurricanes” every year. 

“Climate change is now reaching the end-game, where very soon, humanity must choose between taking unprecedented action, or accepting that it has been left too late and bear the consequences.” That’s a chilling warning.

On World Environment Day, we at Pepaa hope that we urgently recognize the impact of human interference, and spread awareness about the reality of the role of mankind in the destruction of Planet Earth.

Source Article: Conde Nest

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