For many scientists, the rhetoric surrounding climate change has intensified, coinciding with a recent study that paints a stark picture: humanity has just six years to prevent global warming from exceeding 1.5 degrees Celsius at current CO2 emissions levels.
One such scientist, an ecologist from Oregon State University, had spent his career studying the health of wolves and other large carnivores in Yellowstone National Park. He had never been particularly outspoken. In fact, as a college student, he considered dropping out due to concerns about taking a debate class. However, in 2018, everything changed when he saw images of Paradise, California, entirely ravaged by wildfires. Houses had vanished in the inferno, leaving behind twisted metal and glass. This prompted him to pen an academic paper titled “World Scientists’ Warning of a Climate Emergency.” He invited colleagues to join, and by the time the paper was published in Bioscience in 2019, it had garnered over 11,000 signatures from scientists worldwide, a number that has since swelled to over 15,000. His life transformed, and he now receives constant media requests and collaboration invitations from scientists worldwide. Recently, he published another paper on the climate system, titled “Entering Uncharted Territory.”
According to him, “Scientists are more willing to speak out now.” While scientists have historically been cautious about entering the public discourse, he believes that they have a moral obligation to alert humanity.
After several years of record-breaking temperatures and extreme weather events, climate scientists have shifted their language to more assertively describe the warming planet. Terms like “climate emergency” and “climate crisis,” formerly associated primarily with activist groups, are increasingly appearing in academic literature. Moreover, scientists’ communication with the media and the public has become more exasperated and desperate.
A recent study revealed that the world’s “carbon budget,” the amount of greenhouse gas emissions the world can release without surpassing a 1.5-degree Celsius temperature increase, has shrunk by one-third. At current emission levels, the world has a mere six years before exceeding this temperature limit.
Leading climate scientists assert that there are no technically feasible scenarios available in the scientific literature to support staying within this limit. The challenges posed by recent temperature anomalies are so extreme that they defy simple statistical models. Scientists believe that terms like “emergency” and “climate and ecological crisis” are now warranted, as merely labeling the situation as “urgent” is no longer sufficient.
This shift in language has also permeated academic publications. In 2015, the term “climate emergency” appeared in only 32 papers in the Web of Science database. In 2022, this phrase appeared in 862 papers. A decade ago, most scientists hesitated to make statements that could be viewed as political. However, this approach has evolved, as the urgency of the climate crisis has become increasingly apparent.
