On Nov 4, President Trump officially notified the UN that the U.S. would withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, an action that will become effective in one year.
At the same time, more than 11,000 scientists from 153 nations signed on by internet to an article in BioScience entitled “World Scientists Warning of a Climate Emergency.”
Lead authors William J. Ripple and Christopher Wolf are affiliated with the Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society at Oregon State University. More than 10 percent of signatories are students or post-doctoral fellows, and less than 10 percent are in fields related to the dynamics of earth’s atmosphere. There is an archaeoentomologist (expert in ancient insects), a student in urban regeneration, a social psychologist, an audiologist, a botany compliance officer—many diverse fields. The list is inaccessible now while dozens of internet signers such as “Mouse, Mickey” are removed.
The “suite of graphical vital signs of climate change” shows that per capita meat consumption has increased by 11 percent in 10 years, world GDP by 80 percent in 10 years, and passenger air travel by 64 percent in 10 years—all signs of increasing prosperity.
“To secure a sustainable future, we must change how we live, in ways that improve the vital signs summarized by our graphs,” the article concludes. “Economic and population growth are among the most important drivers of increases in CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion.”
This means “we must” curtail the economic growth that is allowing people in the underdeveloped world to rise from abject poverty, and stabilize then reduce human population.
The original “World Scientists Warning” of climate apocalypse was issued in 1992. The dates for the Apocalypse keep getting pushed forward.
The largest number of scientists ever signing a statement on climate change was more than 31,000. After considering an extensive review of the scientific literature on the effects of an increased concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide, they signed a statement that there was no evidence that human release of greenhouse gases would cause catastrophic disruption of the earth’s climate, that increasing carbon dioxide had many beneficial effects on plant and animal life, and that proposed limits on greenhouse gases would “damage the health and welfare of mankind.”
For further information, see Civil Defense Perspectives, July 2019.