It’s Halloween, which means costumes, candy, and scary movies. Fear turns to fun on October 31 because Halloween lets us seek scary thrills that can’t hurt us. When we feel like threats are closing in on us and things are getting truly scary, we just turn off the TV and turn on the lights. But there is one terror that we can’t escape, no matter the time of year.

We’re talking about climate change! Here are five of the scariest, most bone-chilling facts about climate change to get you in the mood for terror this season (and hopefully also scare you and your fellow trick-or-treaters into action to address it).

1. Within the next 2 decades, global temperatures are likely to reach 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

In its highly-anticipated Sixth Report in 2021, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stated that a certain amount of global warming is locked in and is irreversible. They reported that from 2011–2020, the global temperature had already reached 1.1 degrees Celsius above 1850-1900 levels. 

In 2024, global temperatures rose above 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels for the first time, and if this trend persists, we will have failed to reach our climate goals established under the Paris Agreement. As climate change becomes more severe, it is predicted to increase the frequency of “fire weather”, kill 70-90% of coral reefs at 1.5 degrees Celsius warming, and raise our sea levels globally by .3 meters above 2000s level.

Scientists estimate that we are on track to reach the 1.5 degree Celsius threshold by 2030 and reach the “tipping point” for climate change. Although the 1.5 degree threshold is considered by the signatories of the Paris Agreement as an acceptable level of global warming, every “extra bit of warming increases the severity of many weather extremes, ice melt and sea-level rise.” Yet, little has changed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It’s like the movie Don’t Look Up; we know what’s happening but we aren’t doing enough to change the outcome.

In 2019, global carbon emissions from fossil fuels and industry reached a high of 36.44 billion metric tons. In 2020, emissions from fossil fuels and industry fell by 5.8 percent due to COVID-19 and the resulting economic crisis. Despite that year’s reverse trend, however, 2022 emissions were back up to 36.8 billion metric tons. In the latest estimates from 2024, fossil fuel and industry emissions reached a new record high of 37.41 billion metric tons of CO2.

Four years later, Professor Forster’s eerie words still hold true.

2. The last 7 years have been the warmest on record

In 2023, NASA announced that the summer of 2023 was the hottest summer on record globally, surpassing the intense heat experienced in 2016. One year later, 2024 is confirmed by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) as the hottest year on record. 

And not only is food security severely at risk because of climate change, but our human security is as well. With temperatures rising due to climate change comes the risk of heat stress, the leading cause of weather-related deaths. 

As we enter the spooky season, the Washington Post reports that it will be an unseasonably hot one in the US. As a marine heatwave amplified by long-term global warming sweeps across the US, we are likely to experience temperatures above seasonal averages, with the Ohio Valley, Appalachians and Northeast predicted to experience 10 to 20 degree deviations.

 “Whether one year is a record or not is not really that important — the important things are long-term trends,” said Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) Director Gavin Schmidt. The current long-term trend is that each year is getting hotter and hotter. 

Are you scared for our future, yet? Well get ready, because it’s going to get even scarier.

3. Our extinction rate is currently estimated to be 1,000-10,000 times the natural rate.

Imagine dressing up as a frog for Halloween and having to explain to younger generations what a frog was and why it’s gone. Currently it is estimated that  41%  of all amphibians species are at risk of extinction due to climate change — so this could be a reality if we don’t act soon.

Extinction is a natural phenomenon, claiming about five species per year. But some experts suggest we’re in the midst of the sixth mass extinction — one that is caused mostly by human activity.

According to a 2023 report, 48% of species are declining and on their way to extinction. It also revealed that the 33% of species listed as non-threatened by the IUCN Red-List are actually decreasing. By mid-century, over one third of the total species found on Earth are predicted to disappear because our extinction rate is currently 1,000 to 10,000 times the natural rate. In 2024, 21 species were declared extinct by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, which tragically included the beloved Bachman’s Warbler.

Allowing this to continue is “a crime equivalent to tossing books from the Library of Alexandria thoughtlessly into a fire, erasing the shared inheritance of all mankind,” according to the National Institute of Environmental Health Science in a review from 2009.

Species diversity is crucial for ecosystem resilience, and without it, ecological communities will not have the strength to withstand change — especially not the change we’re throwing at them.

4. Climate change is already happening, and it’s detrimental to human life, too

The impacts to human health are much scarier than any child-eating clown movie.

Rising temperatures — coupled with cities that lack the capacity to minimize the accumulation and generation of urban heat and the increasing population of elderly — have increased heat-related deaths, according to an article published in 2024 by the World Health Organization.

A 2018 report concluded that the lack of adaptive capacities and effort toward reducing emissions threatens human lives and the national health systems people rely on, by pushing services to their limit and disrupting core infrastructure. Vulnerable communities are already being hit first and worst.

But hyperthermia is not the only risk climate change brings to human life. Pollution worsens air quality, and as of 2021, has been reported to be responsible for 1 in 8 deaths worldwide. This makes air pollution the second leading risk factor for death worldwide. 

A warming world also increases the intensity of natural disasters.

According to NASA, extreme wildfire activity has more than doubled worldwide.  This year, California saw one of the most destructive wildfires in US history in terms of loss of life, structural damages, and acres lost. In 2024, an intense wildfire in Chile killed 136 people, making it the deadliest disaster in the country since the 2010 earthquake and tsunami. Not only are the fires themselves deadly, but the smoke they produce is as well. As of this year, smoke from wildfires in Canada and the American West are predicted to cause more than 40,000 premature deaths per year. This is more than all the fatalities from car crashes in 2024. 

Hurricanes are reaching new extremes, too. According to scientists, 84% of Atlantic hurricanes between 2018 and 2023 were, on average, 18 mph stronger because of climate change. It has become immensely more difficult to escape these storms unscathed, and it will only get harder in the future.

Have you noticed that the Halloween season doesn’t feel the same either? If we can’t wear a full costume without sweating then something is wrong, right?

That’s because climate change is shifting the seasons. Over the past five decades, the vegetation season has become lengthened by an average of one month. This means that spring arrives earlier, while fall is delayed. This not only affects Halloween, but it might affect your Christmas plans too! Because of this change in seasons, many popular ski destinations around the world are forced to make their own artificial snow to stay open.

This change in season not only makes dressing up in a full-body werewolf costume uncomfortable but also disrupts the natural interactions between species, their habitats, and their migration patterns. 

BOO!

5. Many leaders still aren’t taking it seriously.

The world has been aware of climate change at least since the IPCC formed in 1988. Scientists and the public rallied around environmental policy, but many global governments had a different idea.

They were going to ignore it.

Countries contributing the most to global emissions have the best chance of curbing climate change, but leaders are doing little to address it.

Although it has been seven years since the Paris Agreement entered into force, none of the world’s major economies are on track to keep global warming well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

To outline steps to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and build resilience to climate change, parties submit Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) every five years. February 10 was the deadline to submit updated NDCs, however, some countries failed to submit theirs, including many of the world’s major polluters. Although the US submitted their NDCs, they have since withdrawn from the Paris Climate agreement. Climate literacy is among the climate goals that have missed the mark. Climate literacy (as supported by an integrated K-12 curricula) is needed to prepare youth with an understanding of the climate crisis and skills to create solutions, yet not one country has thoroughly addressed it within its NDC.

Everyone may die at the end of horror movies, but we don’t have to.

We’re not in a Hollywood studio, helplessly in the hands of sadistic screenwriters. We can actively choose to change the ending of our story — and for that we should feel hopeful.

In 2019, younger generations took matters into their own hands and started striking for the climate. They skipped school completely to plead for an end to inaction toward climate change and demanding world leaders to undertake environmental reforms. A 2021 study revealed that 83% of people aged 16-25 feel that we have failed to take care of our planet and concluded that it is vital for governments to take “urgent” action against climate change. In June of this year, UNICEF described this eco-anxiety as “an emergent mental health problem.”

The next UN Conference of Parties (COP30) will be held this November. In this international meeting of heads of state and governments and stakeholders, countries will have an opportunity to heighten their ambition on climate change. 

After decades of inaction on climate change, we don’t have any more time to spare before it’s too late. Join the movement and add your voice to this urgent call for change. You can sign the Global Plastics Treaty petition, and spread the word to your friends! Or, you can donate to our Canopy Project, which organizes tree plantings all over the world, and take the effort not to buy clothes that promote Fast Fashion.

This Halloween we must face our fears. The human-made monster that is climate change won’t go anywhere if you just close your eyes or turn off the TV. Action and advocacy are the only way to flip the script — and not wind up like your favorite victim at the end of the horror film.

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On November 8, EARTHDAY.ORG hosted a panel on climate restoration as part of its role as an official observer and lead partner of the Nature + Zone pavilion at COP26. Nick Nuttall, international strategic communications director at EARTHDAY.ORG, interviewed Peter Fiekowsky, founder and chairman of the Foundation for Climate Restoration, on making climate restoration possible.

What is climate restoration?

Many climate negotiations, including those at COP26, focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions to reach targets such as the Paris Agreement. Yet, even if countries cut emissions immediately, this wouldn’t change the level of emissions already in the atmosphere. These emissions have been growing over the last 200 years. 

Climate restoration would remove and store the excess greenhouse gas emissions, such as carbon dioxide, already in our atmosphere. Combined with emissions reductions, climate restoration could return atmospheric carbon to pre-industrial levels, supporting a climate that has allowed humans and nature to thrive. 

The only future to save the planet

Fiekowsky, a physicist by training who has worked in the climate space for the past eight years,  believes the Paris Accords does not reduce carbon levels enough. He claims that we still don’t know whether we can live with those levels of carbon in the atmosphere. 

Climate restoration offers a solution that is economically feasible and reduces CO2 to levels we know to be livable. It all starts with looking at how nature has maintained an equilibrium of atmospheric CO2 and methane throughout history. 

Every time the world has entered an ice age, oceans played a significant role in absorbing enormous amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere. Fiekowsky spoke about catalyzing ocean processes that naturally absorb carbon in order to reduce atmospheric carbon levels. 

One idea involves adding iron dust to certain parts of the ocean to increase algae photosynthesis — a controversial method with the potential to store large amounts of carbon for a comparatively low cost. Other approaches to storing carbon include restoring coastal ecosystems and cultivating seaweed on a large scale.

Methane is naturally removed from the atmosphere from oxidation via chlorine. Researchers are also studying the potential of adding iron dust to this process, through ship exhaust, to accelerate the removal of methane. 

Reducing atmospheric methane by 40% could reduce global warming 0.4 ˚C by mid-century. However, further research into methane removal technology is needed to evaluate potential approaches.

We all have a part to play in climate restoration. You can use your voice to advocate for restoration solutions through education, research, and technology.

EARTHDAY.ORG hosted a series of other panels at COP26 on innovative solutions to climate change. If you want to learn more about how to get involved, check out the action page.

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According to a 2018 study by the International Labour Organisation, India’s shift to a green economy could add 3 million jobs in the renewable energy sector alone by 2030. More people are needed in rooftop solar power generation jobs, manufacturing solar panel modules, inverters and converters, and end-use components for LED bulbs and energy-efficient pumps.

The UNEP defines the Green Economy as one that results in improved human well-being and social equity while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities. The environment is seen as a determining factor of economic production, value, stability, and long-term prosperity – indeed, as a source of growth and a spur to innovation. Simply put, the Green Economy is an effective pathway to sustainable development.

Millions of green jobs are now opening up in varied sectors: to help protect ecosystems and biodiversity; reduce the consumption of energy, water, and other natural resources and materials through high-efficiency strategies; de-carbonize the economy; minimize or altogether avoid the generation of all forms of waste and pollution; for green buildings. According to a 2018 study by the International Labour Organisation, India’s shift to a green economy could add 3 million jobs in the renewable energy sector alone by 2030. More people are needed in rooftop solar power generation jobs, manufacturing solar panel modules, inverters and converters, and end-use components for LED bulbs and energy-efficient pumps.

In India, around two out of three people inhabit the rural sector. To encourage the adoption of green jobs here, our organization Earth Day Network (EDN) awards villages that adopt green livelihoods. These EDN Star Villages get highlighted as examples for others also to emulate. Winners include Dobisha in West Medinipur, West Bengal, a model village that meets all its energy needs through its established solar energy systems. Sothawadi Village, District Seoni, Madhya Pradesh, with guidance from the State Forest Department for Biodiversity Conservation, has set up a Biodiversity Management Committee that maintains a Biodiversity Register. Today, this has details of over 100 native medicinal plants, Non-Timber Forest Produce, and flowering species that grow in and around Sothawadi. The villagers now protect these and cultivate rare, endangered, and threatened species such as Chironji (Buchanania lanzan). Traditionally its seeds are recognized as beneficial to health and thus receive premium rates on sale. The beneficial methods of climate-resilient agro-ecology adopted by the villagers in Kedia village in Jamui District, Bihar, have proven excellent methods to rejuvenate the soil and enhance rural livelihoods. These include a switch to natural, cheaper, and less harmful pesticides and fertilizers such as vermicomposting and use of Neem sprays, and ways to use our dwindling natural wealth – water judiciously.

Earth Day Network also recognizes women’s Self Help Groups active in the Green Economy that enhance their livelihoods with eco-friendly enterprises. On the 8th of each month, we announce an EDN Star Women’s Group. Take the example of Jhargram Block Aranya Sundari Mahila Mahasangam in West Bengal State. Its 500 local women artisans opted for training by the West Bengal Khadi & Village Industries Board to enable the trainees to upgrade what they traditionally crafted – fashioning bowls and plates out of collected dry leaves (patta) of the indigenous Sal (Shorea robusta) trees that naturally grow in the forests around. The training enables them to work with machines to mass produce for sale, these biodegradable alternatives to plastic items. The Mahasangam assists production by opening up microfinance avenues for the women, providing warehouse facilities to safely store the finished products till the items get shipped to customers. A separate network of women Self-Help Groups gets trained in marketing skills to increase the sale of the products and earn their livelihood through it. In this manner, both the producers and the salespersons earn from the green product.

Another such commendable Star Women’s Group is Ahenba Products. It provides urban Manipuri women with the chance to enhance their livelihoods by producing and selling eco-friendly, handcrafted products out of upcycled reeds and water hyacinth. The Narmada Mata Mahila Bachhat Gat are tribal women of Bhill and Pawara communities based in Khadkya and Manwani villages in Nandurbar District. They were trained as part of the Chief Minister’s Rural Development programme to help villages in Maharashtra. The women enhance their incomes through the sale of chemical-free farm produce they grow, such as the nutritious mahua (Madhuca longifolia) laddoos.

On the occasion of the first International Day for Clean Air and Blue Skies (September 7, 2020), Earth Day Network, in association with CLEAN, launched Clean Energy Stars, an initiative to recognize social enterprises in the clean energy sector. Blue Match Impact Solution is one such green enterprise whose environment-friendly EcoCookstoves significantly impact the lives of rural women in Karnataka. Doorastha Analytics is another green enterprise we commended for their Smart Distributed Solar Micro-Grid Energy Systems. Their innovative Pay-As-You-Go service has rural populations in Uttar Pradesh benefit as locals can now have 24×7 access to energy to operate their small-scale businesses. To ensure benefits remain local, Doorastha Analytics trains villagers to operate the plants. The energy-providing model got developed after extensive research on ways to minimize losses in transmission and distribution, safeguard against pilferage, and ensure that operating systems are economical and efficient. Its innovative Pay-as-you-Go service is implemented through smart metering technology and IoT-based monitoring of the assets. The benefits are obvious. A tailor who draws in energy supplied by Doorastha Analytics says: ‘I earn much more now as I can work even after sundown. Paying for the energy is also not a problem. The extra work done suffices to pay for the costs. And, I still have savings left over.’ A saloon owner is happy that the light and fan in his establishment draw in more customers. Based on the success of the initial grids Doorastha Analytics set up, the organization plans to expand operations to 1000 grids by 2023. This access to energy will likely provide benefits to some 55,000 rural enterprises.

A majority of rural populations rely on kerosene for domestic lighting. In these areas, even those households connected to the grid need to use kerosene for lighting from time to time as the supply of electricity is often erratic. As a result, many children get compelled to study with light from kerosene lamps. The carbon fumes emitted harm Indoor Air Quality and prove to be a major cause of deaths, as documented by the WHO. The relatively dimmer light provided by kerosene lamps also affects eyesight. Dlight Solar Lamp solar-charged lighting facility has multiple benefits. It replaces the use of carbon-emitting fuels. Students can now avail extended hours of study. Additionally, the use of solar lighting is less expensive when compared to the purchase of kerosene. ‘Because we don’t need to spend any money on kerosene, we save around 200 rupees a month’ says Janendra, a farmer from Bihar whose daughter is also happy as she now has brighter light to study. Dlight Solar Lamps have already benefited 27 million school-going children. The company pledges to continue to provide affordable and accessible solar lighting and power systems to rural areas.

The foundation to ensure that more and more people take up jobs in the Green Economy (both rural and urban) rests on creating a climate literate population. Education has a crucial role to play in building the workforce for a new, greener economy. Education influences the knowledge, values, and behavior of all individuals in our societies and builds the skills of current and future leaders. Research suggests that individual behavior changes in food and waste, agriculture, transport, and heating can reduce 20-37 percent of emissions (~390-730GT); early studies also suggest that students who learn about climate action influence not just their own choices, but those of their families and communities as well. Education systems should urgently empower young people with the knowledge, skills, and mindset to act on climate in their families and communities: 85 percent of youth globally believe they have a responsibility to tackle climate change, but over 40 percent are unsure of how to have an impact.

For the next generation of workers, we need to upskill incumbent workers and train the unemployed and disadvantaged youth. We face global competition on the green economy that will debilitate our effort to create the next generation of innovators and innovations and the jobs that come with them if we do not educate our students and workers. Furthermore, this time, given the ravages of climate change, we are competing for more than our own economic survival.

An educated workforce is a valuable hedge against global competition and as a driver of a massive green expansion as countries place greater emphasis on green jobs. As the world moves to reimagine how we manufacture, build, transport, operate, power, or fuel just about everything we use or do, we need fully integrated climate literacy to drive innovation and jobs in all sectors. Numerous think tanks and corporate research efforts point to this need for an educated and entrepreneurial workforce.

With this in mind, we ask governments at COP 26 to commit to compulsory, assessed climate education linked to civic engagement. It should become as fundamental as teaching reading and writing. It is necessary to integrate and embed climate literacy across all grade levels and disciplines with the necessary teacher training and support. Beyond the direct teaching of climate education, commit in parallel to enabling young people, especially those in vulnerable and historically marginalized groups that stand to lose the most in the climate crisis, with the skills and support to thrive in a greener world. Together these efforts will create the first generation of true climate literate and civically active citizens who will be able to make environmentally informed choices about how they live, work, and participate in government, and become the climate literate workforce needed to build a new, stronger, and more sustainable 21st-century economy.

Earth Day Network-India (EDN) is an environmental organization. We aim to help Restore our Earth (a major focus in several countries across the globe) with initiatives that focus on ways to regrow green cover, rejuvenate aquifers, restore soil, refresh air, reduce and manage waste, encourage a switch to clean and green energies, and build environmental stewardship among youth. We are inspired by the global NGO EARTHDAY.ORG that grew out of the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, and today engages with over 50,000 organizations in some 190 countries to take the environmental movement forward.

This article was originally published on Emerging Technology News and was reprinted with permission. Read the original story here.

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