New research demonstrates that
humans are heating up the Earth more rapidly than we have at any previous point in history. In many ways, that's no surprise. In the U.S., a
"heat dome" recently began in the Southwest and spread to much of the rest of the country, bringing record-breaking temperatures. Many states saw temperatures that were up to 30 degrees F hotter (17 C) than usual.
Highs reached 108 degrees F (40 C) in parts of Southern California.
This was in March. It isn't even CLOSE to being summer yet.And that's just what's happening in one country. Government leaders have a legal and moral duty to protect their residents - and that includes protecting them from climate catastrophe. Sign the petition to demand serious cooperation to enact strict regulations to go carbon-neutral!Not only is the rest of the world also suffering - but so are the oceans. In fact, the vast majority of climate change heat excess doesn't even impact us land-beings. Instead,
91% of that heating actually gets absorbed by the oceans. And that is not a good thing.
According to researchers, the excess heat from climate change is moving deeper and deeper into the shadowy mystery-realms of the ocean. This impacts entire ecosystems and wildlife - but also circulation patterns.
Some scientists are already noticing the effects with
'staggering' fish population drops. As
Shahar Chaikin, a scientist with the National Museum of Natural Sciences in Spain, said: "To put it simply,
the faster the ocean floor warms, the faster we lose fish. ... If we allow the pace of ocean warming to speed up by even a 10th of a degree per decade,
we are expecting great losses to global fish populations that no management plan can easily fix."
In just the past one year, the oceans recorded their highest heat absorption ever. The UN secretary-general,
António Guterres has tried to emphasize this significance: "The state of the global climate is in a state of emergency. Planet Earth is being pushed beyond its limits.
Every key climate indicator is flashing red."
Wealthy, industrialized nations with large carbon footprints have been pretending this won't impact them, turning their eyes away from the suffering in more impoverished countries. But the reality is that
this will affect every single nation, every single person, every animal, every insect, every plant on Earth (including in the waters, too).There is only ONE WAY to stop this, and that is by sustained, committed, sober cooperation from every nation on this planet. Leaders turned the Paris Climate Agreement into a pretty set of suggestions that they promptly decided were too inconvenient to stay serious about. They cannot keep doing that to us - to all of us. As Secretary-General Guterres said: "Humanity has [just] just endured the 11 hottest years on record.
When history repeats itself 11 times, it is no longer a coincidence. It is a call to act."
World leaders MUST come back together, and finally commit to a strict and unwavering set of regulations that will preserve our Earth - with firm consequences if we break these agreed-upon rules. They must ensure we can all live on a healthy planet for generations to come! Sign the petition now!