UN climate talks open as scientists warn 1.8°C warming is already locked in — and a Peruvian scientist says the answer may lie in ancient wisdom
A United Nations climate summit is set to open in late September with a stark warning: current government policies will push global warming to at least 1.8 degrees Celsius, far past the 1.5-degree limit scientists call safer for the planet. Meanwhile, a Peruvian scientist of Indigenous descent is turning to her ancestors' knowledge to protect the Amazon, and readers are asking why world leaders are not treating the crisis with the urgency it demands.
The United Nations is preparing to hold a climate summit in late September, and it is arriving with a blunt message: the world is not on track. Ahead of the meeting, the UN warned that current climate policies will lead to at least 1.8 degrees Celsius of global warming — well beyond the 1.5-degree limit that scientists say is safer for the planet [4].
The warning has renewed attention on what passing 1.5 degrees would actually mean. Climate scientist Michael Mann discussed the consequences in an interview with Steve Curwood, host of "Living on Earth," a public radio environmental news magazine [4].
As governments fall short, some researchers are looking beyond conventional policy for answers. Facing what could be the most devastating El Niño on record, Peruvian scientist Rosa Vásquez Espinoza is turning to her ancestors for solutions. A scientist of Indigenous descent, she leads Amazon Research Internacional, an organization that combines modern science with ancestral Indigenous knowledge to fight climate change. Its goal is to regenerate rainforests and support local communities [2].
She is not alone. Around the world, researchers are increasingly looking to Indigenous science to address climate change, recognizing knowledge systems that have helped communities survive and manage their environments for generations [2].
The gap between what governments promise and what the science demands has also drawn sharp criticism from ordinary people. In a letter to the editor, Johan Wittrock argued that no one is treating the climate crisis with enough seriousness, writing that our children will one day ask us: "How could you let this happen?" [3]
After a summer of extreme weather and natural disasters, the need for a cultural shift in how the climate crisis is taken has become harder to ignore. Biologist Rowan Hooper's new book "Togetherness" is being cited as a possible guide for the next generation, writes Martin Gelin [1].