'We are hitting climate tipping points,' scientists warn
July 28, 2021
Around 13,000 researchers have called for urgent action to slow down the climate emergency as extreme weather patterns shock the world. They listed three core measures.
The call comes as extreme weather causes catastrophes across the worldImage: picture-alliance/dpa/NASA
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Thousands of scientists reiterated calls for immediate action over the climate crisis in an article published Wednesday in the journal BioScience.
"The extreme climate events and patterns that we've witnessed over the last several years — not to mention the last several weeks — highlight the heightened urgency with which we must address the climate crisis," said Philip Duffy, co-author of the study and executive director of the Woodwell Climate Research Center in the US state of Massachusetts.
Two years ago, more than 10,000 scientists from around 150 countries jointly declared a global climate emergency. They are now joined by over 2,800 more signatories in urging the protection of life on Earth.
In pictures: Deadly extreme weather shocks the world
From the Mediterranean to Germany to California and beyond, dramatic pictures of the severe impacts of extreme weather have been dominating the news this summer. Is the climate crisis to blame?
Image: Jon Nazca/REUTERS
Rainfall best ally for Spanish firefighters
A wildfire that burned through at least 7,780 hectares (30 square miles) in about a week and devastated forests in southern Spain was brought under control thanks to steady rains. The downpour helped the firefighters, who were backed by some 50 aircrafts. The blaze was one of the most difficult to combat in recent times in Spain. Some 2,600 people were forced to flee their homes.
Image: Jon Nazca/REUTERS
Fierce flash floods in Europe
Unprecedented flooding — caused by two months' worth of rainfall in two days — has resulted in devastating damage in central Europe, leaving at least 226 people dead in Germany and Belgium. Narrow valley streams swelled into raging floods in the space of hours, wiping out centuries-old communities. Rebuilding the ruined homes, businesses and infrastructure is expected to cost billions of euros.
Image: Thomas Lohnes/Getty Images
Europe on fire
While half of Europe is drowning, elsewhere areas are going up in flames: Large fires raged, particularly in Greece, Italy and Turkey. They have caused unforeseeable monetary damage, while thousands of people in Europe have lost their homes and their belongings.
Image: ANGELOS TZORTZINIS/AFP
Record heat in Italy
In addition to deadly wildfires, Italy also battled record heat temperatures, with the Italian Health Ministry issuing the maximum possible heat warning level for many cities. On the island of Sicily, 48.8 degrees Celsius (almost 120 degrees Fahrenheit) was measured on August 11 — a new European heat record. The heat could make existing fires worse, or lead to new ones.
Image: Andrew Medichini/AP/picture alliance
Still out of control
Meanwhile, the Dixie Fire continues smoldering in California. It's California's largest fire on record, and among the most destructive in the state's history — it wiped the town of Greenville off the map. Although it's about 60% contained, the fire continues to burn two months in. Meanwhile, hot and dry conditions continue in the region, spreading fears of more fire.
Image: DAVID SWANSON/REUTERS
Extreme rainy seasons
Earlier this summer, record floods also hit parts of India and central China, overwhelming dams and drains and flooding streets. The downpours have been particularly heavy, even for the rainy season. Scientists have predicted that climate change will lead to more frequent and intense rainfall — warmer air holds more water, creating more rain.
Image: AFP/Getty Images
Greece melts down amid heat waves
As nations flood in northern Europe, Mediterranean countries like Greece were in the grip of several heat waves. In the first week of July, temperatures soared to 43 degrees Celsius (109 Fahrenheit). Tourism hot spots like the Acropolis were forced to shut during the day, while the extreme heat also sparked forest fires outside Thessaloniki, which helicopters tried to douse.
Image: Sakis Mitrolidis/AFP/Getty Images
Sardinia scorched by 'unprecedented' wildfires
"It is an unprecedented reality in Sardinia’s history," said Sardinia's Governor Christian Salinas of the ongoing wildfires that have scorched the historic central western area of Montiferru. "So far, 20,000 hectares of forest that represent centuries of environmental history of our island have gone up in ashes." Around 1,500 people were evacuated from the island by the end of July.
Image: Vigili del Fuoco/REUTERS
Heat records in the US, Canada
Intense heat is becoming more common, as seen in late June in the US states of Washington and Oregon and the Canadian province of British Columbia. Scorching temperatures under a "heat dome," hot air trapped for days by high pressure fronts, caused hundreds of heat-related deaths. The village of Lytton recorded a high of 49.6 Celsius (121 Fahrenheit) — and burned to the ground the next day.
Image: Ted S. Warren/AP/picture alliance
Wildfires sparking thunderstorms
Heat and drought are fueling one of the most intense wildfire seasons in the West Coast and Pacific Northwest regions. Oregon's Bootleg Fire, which burned an area the size of Los Angeles in just two weeks, was so big it created its own weather and sent smoke all the way to New York City. A recent study said the weather conditions would have been "virtually impossible" without climate change.
Image: National Wildfire Coordinating Group/Inciweb/ZUMA Wire/picture alliance
Amazon nearing a 'tipping point'?
To the south, central Brazil is suffering its worst drought 100 years, increasing the risk of fires and further deforestation in the Amazon rainforest. Researchers recently reported that a large swath of the southeastern Amazon has flipped from absorbing to emitting planet-warming CO2 emissions, pushing the rainforest closer to a "tipping point."
Image: Andre Penner/AP Photo/picture alliance
'On the verge of starvation'
After years of unrelenting drought, more than 1.14 million people in Madagascar are food-insecure, with some now forced to eat raw cactus, wild leaves and roots, and locusts in famine-like conditions. With the absence of natural disaster, crop failure or political conflict, the dire situation in the African nation is said to be first famine in modern history caused solely by climate change.
Image: Laetitia Bezain/AP photo/picture alliance
More people fleeing natural disasters
The number of people fleeing conflict and natural disasters hit a 10-year high in 2020, with a record 55 million people relocating within their own country. That's in addition to some 26 million people who fled across borders. A joint report released by refugee monitors in May found that three-quarters of the internally displaced were victims of extreme weather — and that number is likely to grow.
Image: Fabeha Monir/DW
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Since the 2019 declaration, Earth has seen an "unprecedented surge" in climate-related disasters, researchers noted.
What are the signs?
For the study, researchers relied on "vital signs" to measure planetary health, including greenhouse gas emissions, glacier thickness, sea-ice extent and deforestation. Out of 31 signs, scientists found that 18 hit record highs or lows.
The year 2020 was the second-hottest year since records began, scientists said. And earlier this year, the carbon dioxide concentration in the Earth's atmosphere was higher than at any time since measurements began.
The authors noted that all-time low levels of ice mass have been recorded in Greenland and Antarctica. Glaciers are melting 31% faster than they did just 15 years ago, they added.
Tim Lenton, director of the University of Exeter's Global Systems Institute and co-author of the study, said the recent record-breaking heat wave in the western United States and Canada showed that the climate had already begun to "behave in shocking, unexpected ways."
"We need to respond to the evidence that we are hitting climate tipping points with equally urgent action to decarbonize the global economy and start restoring instead of destroying nature," he said.
How can we respond to the climate crisis?
Researchers reiterated calls for transformative change, listing three main emergency responses in the immediate term:
Phasing out and eliminating fossil fuels
Implementing "a significant carbon price"
Restoring ecosystems such as carbon sinks and biodiversity hotspots
Climate change should be included in core curricula in schools worldwide to raise awareness, the authors said.
"We need to stop treating the climate emergency as a standalone issue — global heating is not the sole symptom of our stressed Earth system," said William Ripple, a lead author of the study and professor of ecology at Oregon State University's College of Forestry.
"Policies to combat the climate crisis or any other symptoms should address their root cause: human overexploitation of the planet."