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Planetary heating is accelerating because of dangerous feedback loops which are already contributing to global instability, top climate scientists write in the seventh annual State of the Climate report, while the most effective levers to avert catastrophe include deploying renewable energy, protecting forests and improving farming practices. “We are hurtling toward climate chaos,” say the opening lines of the paper published in BioScience on Thursday. “The planet’s vital signs are flashing red. The consequences of human-driven alterations of the climate are no longer future threats but are here now.” A collaboration by the climate scientists from North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Australia, the paper notes that 2024 set a new average global surface temperature record and was probably the hottest in 125,000 years based on the glacial record. This was driven by ecological overshoot from human activity with population, livestock, meat consumption, gross domestic product and fossil fuel energy consumption all at record highs, the paper says, noting an extra 1.3 million humans and 500,000 cattle or other ruminants join the planet every week.
