World Environment Day: planet Earth's SOS
Monday was World Environment Day. Every June 5 since 1972, the United Nations has launched worldwide campaigns aimed at environmental and climate protection. The press seizes the occasion to make a global environmental assessment - and the conclusions are far from reassuring.
High time for an emergency brake
The news website In.gr warns of the catastrophic impact of climate change:
“We are not just talking about another 'issue' or 'social problem' here. We are talking about the fact that unless there are radical changes entire densely-populated urban areas will be uninhabitable 30 years from now. They will be flooded by rising sea levels, they will have summer temperatures that the human body will be practically unable to withstand, they will have no agriculture because they will have become deserts. At the same time 'extreme climate events' will be more and more frequent, and their costs will be increasingly unbearable. Refugees from war and poverty will be joined by climate refugees.”
Global strategy alibi sorely lacking
Climate and environmental protection measures are being postponed again and again using the same lame excuses, Corriere del Ticino criticises:
“Certainly, the US is making up for lost time and working on projects to make the fight against pollution and its impact on the climate more effective. The European Union is doing the same. ... But it's also true that entire continents - first and foremost Asia, led by China and India - seem to be playing a game of hide and seek on this issue, using as an alibi the argument that the lack of a global strategy would immediately render initiatives by individual countries ineffectual. ... In addition - and this is often the argument people are afraid to mention - such measures would slow down the growth of an economy that is still based on fossil resources.”
Too demanding for our planet
Phileleftheros repeats UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ warnings:
“Governments urgently need to prioritise climate and environmental protection through policies that promote sustainable development. ... As voters and consumers, we must make our actions count. From the policies we support to the food we eat and from the modes of transport we choose to the businesses we endorse... Earth's natural systems cannot keep up with our demands. And they have exceeded the limits of our greed.”