Earth Day: Activists urge action to avoid a ‘dystopian’ future

The defenders of climate change gathered in front of the British Parliament, on the eve of the Earth dayto urge action against the global warmingas volunteers from around the world prepared to plant trees and remove trash for the 54th annual celebration of the environment.

He Earth day This year’s heat, which officially falls on Saturday, follows weeks of extreme temperatures, with record highs in Thailand and a heat wave in India, where at least 13 people died of heat stroke at a ceremony last weekend.

Global average temperatures could hit record highs in 2023 or 2024, climate scientists have warned.

He Pope Franciscowho has championed ecological causes since his election in 2013, urged people to take care of the environment.

“The book of Genesis tells us that the Lord entrusted to human beings the responsibility of being custodians of creation. For this reason, caring for the Earth is a moral obligation for all men and women as children of God. #EarthDay @EarthDay”posted on social media on Saturday.

“Climate impacts are here”Areeba Hamid, co-executive director of Greenpeace, said on Friday. United Kingdomas climate change activists walked down the street in front of Parliament in London, some dressed in green suits and green paint.

Hamid said that when he now visits Delhi, his hometown, he feels like “put your head in the oven” and that the London heat wave in 2022 was like “a dystopian movie (…)” We can no longer allow it “.

Group-led activists Extinction Rebellion have gathered in London to launch a four-day action, billed as “The Big One”, coinciding with the Earth day.

Some 30,000 people have signed up for family-friendly rallies and marches, marking a game changer for a group known for disruptive tactics including blocking roads, throwing paint and smashing shop windows.

CLEANSES AND RITUALS

Around the world there was a flurry of activity on the eve of the Earth daywith events scheduled in Rome and Boston and major cleanup campaigns in Dal Lake in Srinagar (India) and in Cape Coral (Florida), affected by the hurricane.

In Peru, shamans made an offering to “Pachamama,” or Mother Earth, on Friday. Carrying yellow flowers and rattles, the shamans walked around a papier-mâché globe while performing a cleansing ritual.

The ancestral rituals -whose origins go back to the indigenous cultures of Peru– are carried out to thank the Earth and raise awareness about the planet, explained Walter Alarcón, president of the International Organization of Healing Shamans of Peru.

Governments have largely failed to fulfill the promises of the 2015 Paris Agreement to limit global warming by abandoning fossil fuels, in the midst of crises such as COVID-19, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, food shortages and the tense relationship between China and the United States, the two main emitters of greenhouse gases .

A report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) of the UN It says the planet is on track to warm more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times – a key threshold for even more damaging impacts – between 2030 and 2035.

“There is a rapidly closing window of opportunity to ensure a livable and sustainable future for all,” the IPCC has said. “Decisions and actions taken in this decade will have repercussions now and for thousands of years”.

(Report from Reuters offices Edited in Spanish by Javier López de Lérida)