We need no longer speculate about whether we live in a climate emergency.  The scientific verdict has been out for some time now, each year’s report grimmer than the last.  The UN World Meteorological Organization’s most recent report tells us that Arctic and Greenland ice sheets are melting at faster rates, the oceans are moribund, that there were a record number of hurricanes in the Atlantic, floods in Asia and Africa, droughts and wildfires in the Americas, and climate refugees the world over.  And this is to say nothing of deforestation, depleted soils, polluted air and water, and biodiversity loss.  The World Wildlife Fund’s most recent report tells us that mammal, bird, fish, amphibian, and reptile populations have fallen an average of 68% since 1970.  “Our relationship with nature,” as they put it, “is broken.”

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