Code Red for Humanity
The latest IPCC report must be treated as the warning it truly is. It is the undeniable, unavoidable clarion call for humanity to act decisively on the climate. The devastating clarity of the science is a scathing rebuke of our collective nonchalance, our iterative-ness, our failures of courage and humility, and our total under-estimation of the crisis that is upon us.
The message in the report is clear: To save our planet, to save ourselves, we must immediately take dramatic and sustained actions to drastically reduce CO2 emissions. This perhaps most urgently means no new fossil fuel development. The approval of any new projects is in direct conflict with a liveable planet, as articulated by the scientific data from around the world.
The report itself is a showcase of what we are capable of doing together, presenting the clearest view of our planet’s climate ever (including every region on earth), the process included:
- 234 scientists contributing to the research (on a volunteer basis)
- 14,000 research papers (peer-reviewed) cited
- 3949 pages of data and. explanations in the full report.
- more than 78,000+ comments from governmental and non-government stakeholders
- coordination entirely online
This report, the first since 2013, offers us the clearest perspective we’ve ever had on the impacts of human behavior on our environment, both that cause global warming and that mitigate it’s effects, to the benefit of all. The report is of course simply the data, the facts; it is the basis for immediate and future decisions, but the IPCC it is not responsible for decarbonizing our atmosphere.
That’s on us.
So today, let us look collectively at our unprecedented opportunity (perhaps our last to avoid the worst of the climate emergency) and act accordingly. It is time to show how we can be radically human in our collective response, a response that ignites us all to act in big and small ways. The report’s science shows that every single region in the world is being impacted by the climate crisis now. We can only survive and thrive together, through connection and coalition. Unprecedented alliances are already forming, some that we could never have imagined yesterday — that will bring us magically back to our humanity, and activate us toward a collectively viable, mutualistic future.
Take heart, but don’t sleep.
The greatest coalition of humans and organizations is already working in some way on this topic. We are growing and learning every day. We are fully capable of creating a new world in the face of clear and catastrophic danger. We must continue to deepen relationships with one another and exert the full measure of our humanity on those interests, companies, and individuals standing between us and an inhabitable planet.
We are all needed. You, me, all of us, in every way we can imagine. Now.
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