Scientists: Time Is Running Out To Tackle Climate Change

Like most people, you are probably wondering why the planet that we live on is going through all of these dramatic weather shifts. For over years and years, scientists have warned humanity the dangers that follow the usage of hazardous fuel sources such as coal and oil. Since these resources are unclean, they have a massive impact on the environment in which we live.

If you recall, some of the recent environmental catastrophes that happened this year are the direct result of climate change. The massive wildfires that practically wiped out the entire west coast are one of the hallmarks of how serious this problem truly is. Not only does the rise in temperature have an impact on our forests but our oceans as well. Because of climate change, America had to experience some of the worst consecutive hurricanes that this country has ever seen. In fact, the east coast is still recovering from the massive damage that was inflicted upon them during the hurricanes.

Even though communities are doing their very best to overcome these disasters together, our planet needs all the help that it can possibly get. It's been twenty-five years since a handful of scientists issued the very first "warning to humanity" in the year 1992. Now, scientists have compiled a new warning to humanity that declares the state of emergency that earth is in. This letter has more than 15,000 signatures from scientists that all agree about the dire state our climate has become. If the planet continues on the same path, then the world will witness mass extinction within the coming years.

William Ripple, the author of the article states to CBC News, "The trends are alarming, and they speak for themselves." Ripple claims that he had found the original letter from last year and saw that it had 1,700 signatures from scientists which inspired him to create a warning of his own. "I'd never tried that before, so in July I sent [the article] to 40 colleagues of mine, and by the next day, 600 scientists had signed it."

Ripple made the second letter start from where the last letter ended back in 1992. Warning future humanity that the many man-made environmental disasters would continuously get worse through the years. Co-writer Christopher Wolf states that even though countries have taken steps to maintaining the health of the ozone layer, forest loss, ocean dead zones, overpopulation, and global warming will still become much worse if we do not act now.

"Soon it will be too late to shift course away from our failing trajectory, and time is running out. We must recognize, in our day-to-day lives and in our governing institutions, that Earth with all its life is our only home," the article declares.

Some of the ways that families all over the world can help by reducing the number of children they decide to have, immediately switch to cleaner technologies, and switch to better eating habits that are a little more plant-based.

All of these factors could have a dramatic increase on the world's overall health and ability to maintain humanity's existence.