Detailed guidelines required on how to behave in the climate emergency

MORE THAN 11,000 SCIENTISTS from 153 countries have sounded the alarm on climate change. In a paper published last week in the journal BioScience, they've signed a declaration stating "clearly and unequivocally that planet Earth is facing a climate emergency, saying that if no profound and lasting changes are made, the world will face untold suffering. Beijing Youth Daily comments:

Science speaks with evidence. And the evidence the scientists laid out is testimony to the undeniable truth that human activities are causing global warming from the fast rise of fossil fuel consumption to dramatic increase in greenhouse gas emissions over the past 40 years.

The scientists also gave a prescription to try to reverse the seemingly irreversible trend, proposing six actions to prevent the most catastrophic scenarios: stabilizing population growth by investing in family-planning services and girls' education; replacing fossil fuels, cutting the emissions of climate pollutants such as methane and soot, eating less meat, restoring and protecting ecosystems, and building a carbon-free economy.

The scientists say the climate crisis is closely related to excessive consumption, so they call on the people to change their life styles to tackle the climate change.

But these measures are comparatively abstract and ambiguous to both governments and individuals, allegedly two sources of the possible changes. It is hard to define, for example, the "luxurious life style", as the definition apparently varies in countries that are in different development stages. And, even if there is a clear definition or standard of the healthy life style, whether the people can take the initiative to follow it is another question, particularly those who just bid farewell to poverty.

In terms of transportation, statistics show that the global aviation industry, which is actually a scapegoat for global warming, only accounts for 2.8 percent to 3 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, which is not high given the industry's importance to the world economic development.

The topic of climate change was raised decades ago. But the solutions proposed by the science community have remained in the realm of unworkable "principles".

Given the urgency of resolving the climate issue, now is the time for policymakers to work more closely with the science community so their prescription can be translated into workable and down-to-earth measures that can bring down carbon emissions.