Instead of Hysteria and Casting Blame, Time to Address Connections: Universal Conditions, Causes, Crises

Life Neither begins nor ends with Today's Headlines 

In a moment of wildfire headlines played to the accompaniment of loose-talking angst swapping blame, what is being ignored or is just too hard to ponder is the interconnectedness of Crises: “Climate change, biodiversity loss and desertification.” Man and Nature and the former's responsibility for the gift of the latter.  

“Over the past two centuries, humans have altered landscapes on an unprecedented scale, leading to widespread loss of ecosystems and biodiversity. In addition to a significant reduction in the world’s wildlife, this has also substantially weakened nature’s ability to regulate the planet’s climate.

“In turn, climate change, fueled by ever-increasing greenhouse gas emissions, threatens nature and biodiversity through sudden onset impacts, such as wildfires, droughts and more frequent and intense extreme weather events, and slow onset impacts such as ocean acidification, sea-level rise and desertification.

“These impacts can result in profound ecological changes, driving more and more species closer to extinction.” https://climatepromise.undp.org/what-we-do/areas-of-work/nature

Unrecognized Oneness of

Earth, Climate, Suffering

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2022

Ecosystems, people, settlements, and infrastructures have suffered widespread and pervasive problems resulting from “observed increases in the frequency and intensity of climate and weather extremes, including hot extremes on land and in the ocean, heavy precipitation events, and drought and fire weather,” according to 2022 “IPCC Sixth Assessment Report: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability” “Summary for Policymakers.” Moreover, “The rise in weather and climate extremes has led to some irreversible impacts as natural and human systems are pushed beyond their ability to adapt.”

Observed Impacts from Climate Change

“Human-induced climate change, including more frequent and intense extreme events, has caused widespread adverse impacts and related losses and damages to nature and people, beyond natural climate variability. … Across sectors and regions (of the world), the most vulnerable people and systems are observed to be disproportionately affected.”

In some regions, “mental health challenges are associated with increasing temperatures …, trauma from weather and climate extreme events…, and loss of livelihoods and culture….”

“Increased exposure to wildfire smoke, atmospheric dust, and aeroallergens have been associated with climate-sensitive cardiovascular and respiratory distress…. Health services have been disrupted by extreme events such as floods….”

Complex, Compound and Cascading Risks are that consequences and risks of climate change grow “increasingly complex and more difficult to manage”

• multiple climate hazards occurring simultaneously, and 
• multiple climatic and non-climatic risks interacting, 
• compounding overall risk and 
• risks cascading across sectors and regions.” https://www.ipcc.ch/report/special-report-on-climate-change-and-cities/

Increasing weather and climate extreme events expose millions of people to acute food insecurity and reduced water security. 

The largest impacts are observed “in many locations and/or communities in Africa, Asia, Central and South America, Small Islands and the Arctic.”

Additionally, 

“Sudden losses of food production and access to food, compounded by decreased diet diversity, have increased malnutrition in many communities, especially for Indigenous Peoples, small-scale food producers and low-income households— with children, elderly people and pregnant women bearing the brunt of these conditions….”

Because of “climatic and non-climatic drivers,” almost half the world population suffers “severe water scarcity for at least some part of the year.”

Copernicus Climate Change Service 2023

“A large number of extreme events were recorded across the globe, including heat waves, floods, droughts and wildfires. Estimated global wildfire carbon emissions in 2023 increased by 30 percent with respect to 2022, driven largely by persistent wildfires in Canada”

Approaching 200 years, the year 2023 was “confirmed as the warmest calendar year in global temperature data records going back to 1850”

• Antarctic sea ice “reached record low extents …” with “both the daily and monthly extents reaching all-time minima in February 2023”

• “Arctic sea ice extent at its annual peak in March ranked amongst the four lowest for (that) time of year in the satellite record.” “The annual minimum in September was the sixth-lowest.”

• “Annual average air temperatures were the warmest on record (or close to the warmest) over sizeable parts of all ocean basins and all continents except Australia”

• “Global average sea surface temperatures (SSTs) remained persistently and unusually high, reaching record levels for the time of year from April through December” (“Unprecedented SSTs were associated with marine heat waves around the globe, including in parts of the Mediterranean, Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, Indian Ocean and North Pacific, and much of the North Atlantic”)

• “Atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and methane continued to increase and reached record levels in 2023, reaching 419 ppm and 1902 ppb respectively.” “Carbon dioxide concentrations in 2023 were 2.4 ppm higher than in 2022 and methane concentrations increased by 11 ppb.”

2023 News Reporting (Al Jazeera)

“The ‘vital signs’ that signify the health of our planet are currently worse than at any time in human history, a team of scientists warned in a research paper published in the journal Bioscience” (in the fall of 2023). 

One of the authors warned that in the absence of concerted actions that address the root causes of “humanity taking more from Earth than it can safely give, we’re on our way to the potential collapse of natural and socioeconomic systems and a world with unbearable heat and shortages of food.”

The director of the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), Samantha Burgess, is quoted in a November 2023 news article saying that when combining C3S findings with IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) data, “we can say that 

(2023) is the warmest year for the last 125,000 years.”

Our World in Data 2024 Wildfires

Wildfires and carbon dioxide Carbon emissions from wildfires

“Wildfires can lead to large emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), as the carbon stored in the vegetation (trees, grasslands, or crops) is released into the atmosphere when burned.…” 

“Wildfires globally add five to eight billion tonnes of CO2 each year.”  

Our World in Data publishes “research and data to make progress against the world’s largest problems.”

Bioscience Journal 2025

“The ‘vital signs’ that signify the health of our planet are currently worse than at any time in human history, a team of scientists warned in a research paper published in the journal Bioscience” (in the fall of 2023.

“Wildfires have increased in size, frequency, and intensity in arid regions of the western United States because of human activity, changing land use, and rising temperature. Fire can degrade water quality, reshape aquatic habitat, and increase the risk of high discharge and erosion.”

Deforestation and Degradation Threaten Life

“Deforestation and forest degradation currently account for up to a fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions.” And “as global temperatures keep rising, forests become increasingly susceptible to drought, wildfires, pests, and disease.

“As forests disappear, their immense carbon storage capacity is lost, and the carbon dioxide released further exacerbates the greenhouse effect.”

FOOD, LIFE, FORESTS are Indispensable, Crucial, Essential (United Nations Development Programme, UNDP)

Forests cover nearly a third of the Earth’s land surface, equivalent to the combined areas of Brazil, Canada, China, and the United States. These 4 billion hectares of forests are not just vast swathes of greenery. They constitute a vital component of almost every facet of life on our planet.

Forests are critical ecosystems, providing habitats for most of the planet’s species and livelihoods for nearly one billion people. Forests are catalysts of economic, ecological, and socio-cultural well-being for many communities around the world. (Seventy million Indigenous People call forests their home and act as their primary caretakers and custodians; for them, the health of the forests is… a matter of survival.)

Forests are ecosystems where rich biodiversity thrives, serving as home to 60,000 different tree species, 80 percent of amphibian species, 75 percent of bird species, and 68 percent of the world’s mammal species. They provide immense ecosystem services, such as helping to regulate global rainfall patterns, safeguard water resources, and prevent flooding and soil erosion.

Healthy forests act as buffers between humans and wildlife and limit zoonosis (the spread of disease communicable from animals to humans under natural conditions).

Healthy forests play a crucial role in mitigating climate change by acting as carbon sinks, absorbing billions of metric tonnes of CO2 annually…; they absorb and store carbon dioxide.

Forests provide a crucial capacity to remove greenhouse gases (GHG) from the atmosphere and help us avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis.

As one of the most effective nature-based solutions, forests are prime examples of natural recovery and adaptation. Their resilience, however, doesn’t shield them from anthropogenic stressors, including land-use change, deforestation, agricultural intensification, and urbanization.

Excuses are Unacceptable  

Narrow-mindedness is Easy

Deliberate Ignorance Callous, Intellectually Lazy

Promotion, Exploitation of ignorance and narrow-mindedness

Pernicious

Sources

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change.
https://www.ipcc.ch/
IPCC Sixth Assessment Report: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability Summary for Policymakers
IPCC, 2022: Summary for Policymakers [H.-O. Pörtner, D.C. Roberts, E.S. Poloczanska, K. Mintenbeck, M. Tignor, A. Alegría, M. Craig, S. Langsdorf, S. Löschke, V. Möller, A. Okem (eds.)]. In: Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [H.-O. Pörtner, D.C. Roberts, M. Tignor, E.S. Poloczanska, K. Mintenbeck, A. Alegría, M. Craig, S. Langsdorf, S. Löschke, V. Möller, A. Okem, B. Rama (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK and New York, NY, USA, pp. 3-33, doi:10.1017/9781009325844.001 https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2 https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/chapter/summary-for-policymakers/

Al Jazeera News 2022 Explainer “How climate change drives heatwaves and wildfires
July 24, 2022, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/7/24/how-climate-change-drives-heatwaves-and-wildfires

RT World News 2023 “Earth’s ‘vital signs’ worse than ever before – report” “Scientists say that life on the planet is ‘under siege’” October 24, 2023 https://www.rt.com/news/585715-climate-vital-signs-worsening/

RT World News 2023 “2023 ‘virtually certain’ to be warmest on record – EU scientists” “Researchers have warned that devastating floods and wildfires could be a “new normal” if greenhouse gas emissions aren’t capped” November 8, 2023 https://www.rt.com/news/586832-climate-change-warmest-year/

The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) “supports society by providing authoritative information about the past, present and future climate in Europe and the rest of the World”
https://climate.copernicus.eu/about-us Article “Global Climate Highlights 2023 Copernicus: 2023 is the hottest year on record, with global temperatures close to the 1.5°C limit” https://climate.copernicus.eu/copernicus-2023-hottest-year-record


Samborska, Veronika and Hannah Ritchie 2024 “Wildfires: Explore global and country-level data on the extent of wildfires and how they’ve changed over time” April 2, 2024. Statistics updated weekly.
https://ourworldindata.org/wildfires

BioScience Journal “Fire influence on land–water interactions in arid land catchments” BioScience, biae120, https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biae120, January 9, 2025, ttps://academic.oup.com/bioscience/advance-article/doi/10.1093/biosci/biae120/7950356?searchresult=1

United Nations Development Programme “Forests can help us limit climate change – here is how” Explainers October 25, 2023, https://climatepromise.undp.org/news-and-stories/forests-can-help-us-limit-climate-change-here-how?_gl=1*ixfsvb*_gcl_au*MjA0MDQzNDg0My4xNzM2NjIzNjQ2*_ga*MTY5NjI4MzcwMi4xNzM2NjIzNjQ5*_ga_3W7LPK0WP1*MTczNjYyMzY0OC4xLjEuMTczNjYyMzcyOS40MS4wLjA.

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PROLIFIC SOUTHERN-BORN AMERICAN WRITER DR. CAROLYN LADELLE BENNETT focuses on People, Press, Politics USA; Domestic and Foreign Affairs (no copyright claimed in direct quotes and individual image)

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