World Scientists' Warning to Humanity

In late 1992, the late Henry W. Kendall, a former chair of the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) board of directors, wrote "World Scientists' Warning to Humanity", which begins: "Human beings and the natural world are on a collision course." A majority of the Nobel Prize laureates in the sciences signed the document; about 1,700 of the world's leading scientists appended their signature.

It is sometimes offered in opposition to the Heidelberg Appeal—also signed by numerous scientists and Nobel laureates earlier in 1992—which begins by criticizing "an irrational ideology which is opposed to scientific and industrial progress, and impedes economic and social development." This document is often cited by those who oppose theories relating to climate change.

However, the Heidelberg Appeal offers no specific recommendations and is not an indictment of environmental science: "We fully subscribe to the objectives of a scientific ecology for a universe whose resources must be taken stock of, monitored and preserved. But we herewith demand that this stock-taking, monitoring and preservation be founded on scientific criteria and not on irrational pre-conceptions."

In contrast, the UCS-led petition contains specific recommendations: "We must, for example, move away from fossil fuels to more benign, inexhaustible energy sources to cut greenhouse gas emissions and the pollution of our air and water."

More recently, 1,500 scientists from 63 countries - including 110 Nobel Prize laureates and 60 US National Medal of Science winners - signed another UCS petition, the 1997 "Call to Action." This document specifically asked world leaders to sign a global warming treaty at Kyoto that included specific steps to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases:

"The goal is to strengthen the 1992 Framework Convention on Climate Change by agreeing to effective controls on human practices affecting climate. This they can and must do, primarily by augmenting the Convention's voluntary measures with legally binding commitments to reduce industrial nations' emissions of heat-trapping gases significantly below 1990 levels in accordance with a near-term timetable."

On the 100th anniversary of the Nobel prize, 100 Nobel laureates signed an appeal urging for environmental and social reform by use of such legal instruments like the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, the Convention on Climate Change, the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaties (START I and START II) and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

External links

* [http://www.ucsusa.org/ucs/about/page.cfm?pageID=1009 "World Scientists' Warning to Humanity"] (1992)
* [http://www.ucsusa.org/ucs/about/page.cfm?pageID=1007 "World Scientists' Call for Action"] (1997)
* [http://www.commondreams.org/headlines01/1207-01.htm "Our Best Point the Way"] (2001)