Are we on the brink of irreversible climate disaster? New report says Earth entering a dangerous phase | Technology News
It is a perilous time on planet Earth. A new report published in the journal BioScience states that we are on the verge of an irreversible climate disaster. According to the report, our home planet has entered a critical and unpredictable new phase of climate crisis with 25 out of 35 planetary vital signs crossing the threshold.
The annual report, ‘The 2024 state of the climate report: Perilous times on planet Earth’ by a coalition of scientists from the Oregon State University scientists concludes that Earth’s vital signs are worsening and it is time for decisive action. These vital signs include human population growth, global gross domestic product (GDP), ruminant livestock numbers, per capita meat production, and coal and oil consumption.
According to the report, there has been an alarming rise in human and livestock populations, with an increase of about 2,00,000 and 1,70,000 per day respectively. The report also said that fossil fuel consumption has also gone up dramatically with coal and oil use increasing by 1.5 per cent in 2023. While renewable energy saw some growth during the year, fossil fuel consumption continues to be 14 times higher than wind and solar energy.
Meanwhile, global tree cover also declined by 22.8 mega hectares annually in 2022 to 28.3 mega hectares. The report says that wildfires alone caused a record loss of 11.9 mega hectares of tree cover. According to the researchers, the high rates of tree cover loss leads to reduction of forest carbon sequestration leading to additional global warming. On the other hand, greenhouse gas emissions were also recorded to be high. China, India, and the US are the biggest emitters, and the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Australia have the highest per capita emissions.
According to scientists, considering that global surface temperatures were the highest this year, 2024 may have been one of the hottest years on record. The report states that there have been as many as 16 climate disasters between November 2023 and August 2024.
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