The doctor’s here, and the news isn’t good: Mother Earth is dying.

What’s killing her?

We are.

In early November The Guardian (UK) ran an article by journalist Patrick Greenfield, who specializes in environmental issues. Greenfield quotes UN Secretary General António Guterres: “The world is still underestimating climate risks…It is absolutely essential to act now.”

Guterres spoke on the eve of the 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference. Commonly referred to as COP29 – it’s the 29th time the conference has been held – this year’s gathering was held in Azerbaijan.

The World Resources Institute summarized COP29:

The new goal of at least $300 billion annually by 2035 is 

triple the amount of the previous target, aiming to mobilize 

much-needed finance for developing countries to cut emissions 

and address the mounting impacts of climate change. 

But while the new target is an important down payment for a 

safer, more equitable future, it is far less than developing countries 

Need to pursue low-carbon development and protect their citizens

from increasing droughts, floods, and wildfires. In addition,

countries failed to reach consensus on how or whether to

acknowledge the outcome from last year’s climate summit,

which calls for nations to transition away from fossil fuels.

Greenfield’s article makes for somber reading. The lush Amazon rainforest may turn into a savanna. Greenland and West Antarctica’s ice sheets are melting. Wildfires and other extreme weather emergencies are on the rise. 

Something must be done – and done now.

Guterres offers a solution: decrease dependence on fossil fuels. Keep decreasing it until fossil fuels are a thing of the past.

Scientific American’s Mark Fischetti interviewed Michael Mann, director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Center for Science, Sustainability and the Media, shortly after Mann’s book Our Fragile Moment: How Lessons from Earth’s Past Can Help Us Survive the Climate Crisis was published last autumn.

Fischetti concluded his conversation with Mann by asking the climate scientist what, if anything, gave him hope for the planet’s future. Mann’s response is welcome. While not denying the seriousness of the situation, he doesn’t think we’re automatically doomed:

The collective evidence from the past tells us that we’ve still got

a safety margin. Science tells us that if we act quickly, if we act

dramatically, we can avoid warming that will bring far worse

consequences. That’s the fragility of this moment: we have a

little bit of a safety margin, but it’s not a large safety margin…

Yes, it’s bad, and we face far worse consequences if we 

don’t act. We can see devastating climate consequences 

Already. That’s the urgency. But the paleoclimate record 

tells us we haven’t triggered runaway warming yet. 

We can avoid that point of no return if we act quickly and 

dramatically. That’s the agency. We’ve got 4 billion years 

of Earth history. Let’s try to learn from it.

The earth’s resources are vast, but they’re not infinite. It’s clear that we’re barreling toward a full-fledged environmental catastrophe. Those who disagree are deluded or harbor the belief that their money and influence will save them – and to hell with the rest of the world.

Scientists have been ringing the warning bell for decades. But, as the tipping point of irreversible environmental disaster draws closer, there’s no time like the present to act…if you want to enjoy a future.