https://science.thewire.in/environment/climate-crisis-civilisation-collapse/
- Despite discussing many adverse impacts, the climate science literature has little at all to say about whether or under which conditions climate change might threaten civilisation.
- Discussions of mechanisms whereby climate change might cause the collapse of civilisation has been the province of journalists, philosophers, novelists and filmmakers.
- Here, the authors call to treat the mechanisms and uncertainties associated with climate collapse as a critically important topic for scientific inquiry.
- Doing so requires clarifying how ‘civilisation collapse’ connects to topics addressed in climate science, such as increased risks from both fast- and slow-onset extreme weather events.
In a speech about climate change from April 4 of this year, UN General Secretary António Guterres lambasted “the empty pledges that put us on track to an unlivable world” and warned that “we are on a fast track to climate disaster”. Although stark, Guterres’ statements were not novel. Guterres has made similar remarks on previous occasions, as have other public figures, including Sir David Attenborough, who warned in 2018 that inaction on climate change could lead to “the collapse of our civilisations”.
In their article, ‘World Scientists’ Warning of a Climate Emergency 2021’ – which now has more than 14,700 signatories from 158 countries – William J. Ripple and colleagues state that climate change could “cause significant disruptions to ecosystems, society, and economies, potentially making large areas of Earth uninhabitable”.
Because civilisation cannot exist in unlivable or uninhabitable places, all of the above warnings can be understood as asserting the potential for anthropogenic climate change to cause civilisation collapse (or ‘climate collapse’) to a greater or lesser extent. Yet despite discussing many adverse impacts, the climate science literature, as synthesised for instance by assessment reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), has little at all to say about whether or under which conditions climate change might threaten civilisation.
by DANIEL STEEL, C. TYLER DESROCHES AND KIAN MINTZ-WOO
15/10/2022
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