Scientists Say Only 10 Years Left to Save the Planet

The planet, as we know it, has been given a deadline: 10 years. According to the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, if humans don't reduce greenhouse gas emissions drastically and maintain carbon sinks, like forests, then the results will be catastrophic for the climate. But they've developed a model that they believe could do the trick.

Cassie Kelly writes about
 having just a decade left to
save our planet.

The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, outlines a plan that could simultaneously account for carbon uptake by plants and carbon release by anthropogenic (human-induced) activities.

"The study shows that the combined energy and land-use system should deliver zero net anthropogenic emissions well before 2040 in order to assure the attainability of a 1.5°C target by 2100," said Michael Obersteiner, coauthor and IIASA director.

Read Cassie Kelly's EcoWatch story - “Scientists Say Only 10 Years Left to Save the Planet.”