Many of Earth’s “vital signs” have hit record extremes, indicating that “the future of humanity hangs in the balance”, a group of the world’s most senior climate experts have said.

More and more scientists are now looking into the possibility of societal collapse, says the report, which assessed 35 vital signs in 2023 and found that 25 were worse than ever recorded, including carbon dioxide levels and human population. This indicates a “critical and unpredictable new phase of the climate crisis”, it says.

The temperature of Earth’s surface and oceans hit an all-time high, driven by record burning of fossil fuels, the report found. Human population is increasing at a rate of approximately 200,000 people a day and the number of cattle and sheep by 170,000 a day, all adding to record greenhouse gas emissions.

    • basmatii@lemm.ee
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      4 hours ago

      CO2 also lowers nutrient density despite increasing total size and weight of crops, meaning you have fewer nutrients per calorie and per pound. Even if you could spin this into a positive, all crops have the same vulnerabilities to heat stress, drought, and unpredictable seasons, all of which are increased by excess CO2.

      Even with crispr changing the timeline to create new crops that might handle the new climate every year to be incredibly short, theres not enough time to produce and distribute those new versions before the climate has changed enough to require yet newer versions of said crops.

      But good news, bugs and algae will be plentiful. hope you like algae bars with insect protein bars as a snack.

      • Admiral Patrick@dubvee.org
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        5 hours ago

        You know what else doesn’t increase crop yield? Droughts along with that heat stress.

        The garden I put out didn’t do anything this year because it was just so hot and dry for so long.