The Phoenix
The Case for Declaring a National Climate Emergency
It’s time the U.S. government made it official: We’re in the midst of a major crisis, and we need to act now
Future Human is partnering with The Phoenix, a newsletter by climate reporter and meteorologist Eric Holthaus. Every two weeks, we’ll feature new stories about climate science, justice, and radical change. As Eric says, we were born at just the right time to change everything. Subscribe here.
We are at a critical moment in the entirety of human history
According to NASA data, last year was the hottest year in modern record-keeping — and probably the hottest our planet has been since agriculture was invented about 12,000 years ago. The level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is now at its highest level in about 4 million years and is rising at the fastest rate since the extinction of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago.
I’ve been saying these words for years now: We are in a climate emergency.
What we do now will have ramifications not only for the rest of our lives but will ripple through the future for as long as life endures on Earth — thousands and millions of years from now.
