UN chief compares humanity to meteorite that wiped out dinosaurs

The secretary general of the UNAntonio Guterres, compared the threat that humanity represents to the planet with the meteorite that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs, in a speech in which he called for a ban on advertising of fossil fuels to combat the climate crisis.

“Of the great forces that have shaped life on Earth for billions of years, humanity is just a blip on the radar,” Guterres said at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

“But like the meteorite that wiped out the dinosaurs, we are having a gigantic impact,” he warned.

“On the issue of climate, we are not the dinosaurs. We are the meteorite. We are not only in danger. We are the danger,” she added.

Guterres also referred to the data released by the European Climate Observatory, Copernicuswhich indicate that May 2024 was the hottest on record to date, meaning that the world has been breaking monthly records for a year.

However, he optimistically noted that humans “are also the solution” and renewed his calls for global action to limit the increase in global temperature to 1.5° compared to the pre-industrial era (1850-1900).

That objective, the most ambitious of the Paris Agreement (2015), is “hanging by a thread,” he warned.

The World Meteorological Organization indicated that there is an 80% probability that the increase in the planet’s average annual temperature will temporarily exceed 1.5 °C “in at least one of the next five years.”

Guterres also urged governments to ban advertising of fossil fuels.

“Many governments restrict or prohibit advertising of products that harm health, such as tobacco,” said the UN secretary.

“Some are now doing the same with fossil fuels. I urge all countries to ban advertising by fossil fuel companies. And to the media and technology companies to stop receiving advertisements,” he stated.