Part of the book series: Contemporary Environmental Law and Policy ((CELP)) In

Climate Disruptions and the Coming Dark Age

submited by

Style Pass

2025-01-15 05:30:03

Part of the book series: Contemporary Environmental Law and Policy ((CELP))

In his opening remarks at the United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP25), held in Madrid at the beginning of December 2019, UN Secretary General António Guterres stated in no uncertain terms that ‘we [i.e. the entirety of humankind] are knowingly destroying the very support systems keeping us alive’. To validate such a radical assertion, Guterres cited the most recent scientific information on the state of the world’s environment (the IPPC Reports), leading him to the realization that a possible path—certainly the darkest—ahead of humanity is one ‘of surrender, [one] where we have sleepwalked past the point of no return, jeopardizing the health and safety of everyone on this planet … If we don’t urgently change our way of life’ Guterres concluded, ‘we jeopardize life itself’. The sense of urgency conveyed by the UN Secretary General’s words is far from a single, isolated cry to attention. On the contrary, the idea of a veritable climate apocalypse pervades the current global discourse, within scientific and political circles as much as within popular culture.

You have full access to this open access chapter, Download chapter PDF