The Heat: Climate Crisis

The Heat

Sean Callebs

Sean Callebs

Featured Video Play Icon
Published June 29, 2023 at 1:36 AM

Extreme heat, raging wildfires and powerful storms, the climate crisis is only getting worse around the globe. 

Now scientists are revealing the results of a new study on the health of the planet. A new study is raising the alarm about the health of the planet. 

Scientists with the Earth Commission quantified safe and just boundaries for climate, biodiversity, freshwater and different kinds of pollution to air, soil and water and found most thresholds have already been breached.  

The international community is working to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, under the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. But the United Nations weather agency says the world could hit that limit within the next five years, exposing even more people to extreme temperatures.  

Meanwhile, China, the Republic of Korea and some Pacific Island nations are raising safety concerns about the Japanese government’s plan to release treated radioactive wastewater into the Pacific Ocean. The contaminated water is being stored in tanks at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant that was crippled by a devastating earthquake and tsunami in 2011. 

Japanese regulators started a three-day inspection on Wednesday at the plant, in what could be the last hurdle before the wastewater is released.  Beijing is calling on the International Atomic Energy Agency to intervene. 

Joining the discussion: 

  • David Obura is the Founding Director of CORDIO East Africa, an organization supporting sustainability of coral reef and marine systems in the Western Indian Ocean.  
  • Joyeeta Gupta is Co-Chair of the Earth Commission and a Professor of Environment and Development in the Global South at the University of Amsterdam.  
  • Einar Tangen is a Senior Fellow at the Taihe Institute and Chairman of Asia Narratives. 
  • Tim Mousseau is a Professor in Biological Sciences at the University of South Carolina. 
  • Arjun Makhijani is the President of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research.