New UN Report Outlines Troubled Future for the Planet

NPG
August 12, 2021
NPG Commentary
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Climate Change continues to destroy our fragile planet, according to a new report from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Sadly, the findings of this new report are no better than the last assessment by this panel, consisting of 195 governments. More than 14,000 peer-reviewed studies were analyzed in order to develop the full report, according to a Wall Street Journal article.

In the Summary for Policymakers we find the word “human” a total of 79 times.

A few examples of where we read about humans:

“It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land.”

“Human influence is very likely the main driver of the global retreat of glaciers since the 1990s and the decrease in Arctic sea ice area between 1979–1988 and 2010–2019.”

“From a physical science perspective, limiting human-induced global warming to a specific level requires limiting cumulative CO₂ emissions, reaching at least net zero CO₂ emissions, along with strong reductions in other greenhouse gas emissions.”

NPG fully agrees with these statements – we have said similar things for nearly five decades now. Regrettably, the word “population” appears not one time in the Summary for Policymakers, and “growth” appears only twice, referring to “atmospheric growth rate” and “CO₂ growth rate.”

Even more concerning is the fact that this HUGE report (an amazing 3,946 pages long consisting of more than 1.5 MILLION words) – designed to explain in incredible detail how climate change is destroying our planet – includes the word “population” only 125 times. For comparison, “CO₂” appears 4,546 times and “climate” is used 19,533 times.

The size and growth of our population should be much more evident in this massive study; after all, it is the single largest source of the numerous problems discussed in its many pages. How can any logical person state that “human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land,” but not take it one step further to realize that the only true solution is to slow, halt, and eventually reverse population growth? If we want to reduce emissions, of any kind, common sense tells us to first try to reduce the number of emitters! Without a concentrated effort to reduce the size of our population it will be virtually impossible to reduce the total emissions which are destroying our environment.

Scientists, academics, politicians, and economists must make the ultimate connection – that population size and growth are the most important factors in play when considering how to preserve our environment and quality of life. Whether working to save a fragile wetland from being filled and developed into a new shopping center or addressing climate change and the melting of the polar ice caps, the discussion must always come back to numbers and capacity.

NPG will continue to call for a slow and gradual reduction in population size and growth until we reach a smaller, truly sustainable level. And we will speak out when others miss the mark by failing to recognize that any problem we face is ultimately made worse by adding more people to it.

For additional reading, we encourage you to review:

Climate Change, Migration, and National Security

Human Fertility and Climate Change

Humans are Making Oceans Warmer, Deeper, and Life Threatening