In an extraordinary statement, Rajendra Pachauri, head of the United Nations' group of climate scientists, said on Monday that humanity can no longer be content kicking the can down the road when it comes to climate change. We have five minutes before midnight,
he emphasized:
We may utilize the gifts of nature just as we choose, but in our books the debits are always equal to the credits.
May I submit that humanity has completely ignored, disregarded and been totally indifferent to the debits? Today we have the knowledge to be able to map out the debits and to understand what we have done to the condition of this planet.â
Pachauri made these remarks as the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) prepares to release its fifth assessment report, which I wrote about
here.
Leaks from the report, uncovered by Reuters, state that without significant intervention we are heading toward 9F degree temperature increase by the end of this century. New leaks indicate that the assessment will cover the threat of sea-level rise and refute the news of a warming slowdown, which has been seized upon by climate change deniers.
Pachauri says nations worldwide need to rethink their approach to economic growth.
We cannot isolate ourselves from anything that happens in any part of this planet. It will affect all of us in some way or the other, Pachauri said.
It's way past time for each of us to become part of the solution. There are
many ways to participate to affect policy change and to make the necessary personal changes.