Humanity is at 'code red' due to climate change: 15,000 scientists pen urgent warning that Earth's...
Humanity is at a 'code' red' due to shattering numerous temperature records, sparking destructive wildfires and melting massive glaciers this year. The urgent warning comes from more than 15,000 climate scientists who first sounded the alarm on Earth's failing vital signs in 2019. The recent 2023 World Scientists Warning of a Climate Emergency report has revealed that 20 of the 35 planetary vital signs are being pushed to record extremes. These include the continued accumulation of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, loss of sea ice and glaciers, rising land and sea temperatures, fossil fuel usage, extreme flooding and species extinction. The team described worldwide societal breakdown as 'feasible' and 'dangerously underexplored' due to human-causing climate change. This year has seen temperature records broken by enormous margins, such as September, which saw the most significant jump in average heat since at least 1940. have also ripped through Canada and other countries, adding to the degradation of the world's forests. The deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century raged through Lahaina in west Maui, killing 99 people and destroying more than 2,200 buildings in August. Around 6,800 people, many of whom have lost loved ones, jobs and homes, are still living in 35 hotels across the island. Locals had to flee their houses while tourists were evacuated from hotels. Lawsuits are piling up in court over liability for the inferno, and businesses across the island are fretting about what the loss of tourism will mean for their futures. Maui County officials have alleged in a lawsuit that the 'intentional and malicious' mismanagement of power lines by Hawaiian Electric had allowed flames to spark which caused the fires to spread. The blaze that swept into centuries-old Lahaina destroyed nearly every building in town of 13,000 people. Caught in a hell scape, some residents died in their cars, while others jumped into the ocean or tried to run for safety. In some cases, animal remains were inadvertently collected along with human remains. Around 6,800 people, many of whom have lost loved ones, jobs and homes, are still living in 35 hotels across the island. All but the most burned-out sections of Lahaina will on November 1, as the community attempts to rebuild the local tourism industry brought to a screeching halt by the fires. Since the fires, Maui has lost more than $13million a day in visitor spending, according to one analysis by the University of Hawaii. Now, tourists will be allowed to return to the luxury hotels and rentals that dot the island. Certain zones of the island - starting with the northern section from the Ritz-Carlton in Capalua to the Kahana Villa Resort, which escaped most of the damage - already reopened this month, prompting a furious backlash from locals. Authorities were forced to roll back the re-opening into phases after over 17,000 people signed a petition to Mr Bissen and Hawaii Governor Josh Green in protest. The petition said: 'The voices of our displaced residents, who have endured immeasurable hardships, have not been adequately heard. Three schools in Lahaina that remained standing after the devastating Maui wildfires . Teachers had to scramble to start all over again after the fires, which have left members of the community eager for a sense of normalcy. Each school re-opened their doors consecutively, starting with Lahaina High School on Monday, Lahaina Intermediate School on Tuesday and Princess Nahienaena Elementary on Wednesday. Around 86 percent of the roughly 2,200 ruined buildings were residential, and the value of wrecked property has been estimated at more than $5 billion. Professor William Ripple of Oregon State University (OSU) in the US and the study's lead author, said: 'Life on our planet is clearly under siege. 'The statistical trends show deeply alarming patterns of climate-related variables and disasters. 'We also found little progress to report regarding humanity combating climate change.' Hopes of a green recovery after the covid-19 pandemic have not materialized, the authors noted, who instead found a global increase in fossil fuel subsidies in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. They said subsidies roughly doubled between 2021 and 2022 from 531 billion dollars (434 billion) to just over one trillion (817 billion). The wildfires in Canada were also estimated to have released one gigaton of carbon dioxide nearly double the country's total 2021 greenhouse gas emissions. Also, in 2023, there have been 38 days with the global average temperature surpassing 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, while this July probably saw the highest surface temperature the planet has experienced in the last 100,000 years, the scientists said. Heavy rain caused flooding across the New York tri-state region last month, affecting 23million across the area which led Gov. Kathy Hochul to declare a state of emergency. More than 7 inches of rain had fallen in Brooklyn and Queens during the overnight hours, with the JFK International Airport received nearly 8 inches of rain. The NYC subway was almost entirely suspended and buses in Brooklyn took on water as they tried to wade through the floods. By noon, most of New York City had crossed the five inches of rainfall mark, with southern Brooklyn getting the worst of it, 6.78 inches. Almost two inches of rain fell in Manhattan 's Central Park in just one hour, which makes it the wettest hour there in 80 years, as reported by CNN. Images of the park show the iconic area completely under water after it's registered a total of 5.46 inches. Commissioner of New York City's Office of Emergency Management Zach Iscol said it was 'the wettest day we've had since Hurricane Ida swept this city.' The area from Central to Manhattan, Long Island and into Southern and the Hudson Valley were under the impact, with Philadelphia and Boston also braced downpours too. The rain is some of the worst seen in New York City since Hurricane Ida in 2021, when 13 people drowned in basement apartments after being caught off-guard. The flooding that disrupted travel and stranded people in cars and homes occurred due to the remains of Tropical Storm Ophelia with converging winds located just to the north. Ophelia was a tropical storm at near-hurricane strength when it crashed down near Emerald Isle in North Carolina on September 24. It knocked out power and flooded coastal streets, as states of emergency were declared in Virginia, North Carolina and Maryland. Dr Christopher Wolf, formerly of OSU and now a researcher with Terrestrial Ecosystems, said: 'The frequency and severity of those disasters might be outpacing rising temperatures. 'By the end of the 21st century, as many as three to six billion people may find themselves outside the Earth's liveable regions, meaning they will be encountering severe heat, limited food availability and elevated mortality rates.' The scientists are calling for an immediate cessation of human-induced pressure on the Earth's life support systems, with specific recommendations including a phase-out of fossil fuel subsidies, switching to plant-based diets, scaling up forest protection and adopting coal elimination and fossil fuel non-proliferation treaties. They want all climate-related actions to consider that people from the poorest countries shouldering the largest brunt of ecological disaster while contributing the least to its cause and for the global economy to switch to one that prioritizes human wellbeing while stopping rich people from overconsuming. Dr Wolf said: 'Without actions that address the root problem of humanity taking more from the Earth than it can safely give, we're on our way to the potential collapse of natural and socioeconomic systems and a world with unbearable heat and shortages of food and fresh water.'