Will We Ever Learn? Facing The Same Old Environmental Crisis

Over twenty-five years ago, the Union of Concerned Scientists and more than 1700 independent scientists, including the majority of living Nobel laureates in the sciences, penned the 1992 “World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity”. This manifesto begged us all to change our ways of living or to get prepared for an environmental catastrophe involving the consequences of ozone depletion, freshwater scarcity, marine life depletion, ocean dead zones, forest loss, biodiversity destruction, climate change, and continued human population growth. What these scientists implored us to do wasn't that hard, they wanted us to consume less. Eat less meat, work less, travel less, shop less. How did we respond? In the past twenty years, our compulsive consumerism has increased vertiginously. Humanity continues to push Earth's ecosystems beyond their capacities.

To mark the letter's 25th anniversary, 15,000 scientists from 184 countries braced a ''Second Notice'' 

“Humanity has failed to make sufficient progress in generally solving these foreseen environmental challenges, and alarmingly, most of them are getting far worse,” they wrote. “Soon it will be too late to shift course away from our failing trajectory.”

13 solutions to our ecological problems are listed in the scientists' second warning. Managing and restoring natural habitats, the creation of new policies, reducing food waste, eating less or no meat, increasing education, improving awareness of and appreciation for nature, along with few a other changes which would mean no great sacrifice to us.

Following these ecological resolutions every single day, with every single decision we make is not only crucial but urgent for ourselves and life on Earth, and we must start now.

What did you do today to make Earth a better place?