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From space, astronaut sounds the alarm about climate crisis

A French astronaut has used a video call from space to sound the alarm about worsening repercussions from climate change that he can see from the International Space Station.

Climate change from space:

Entire regions of Earth in flames. Storms trailing destruction in their wake. And the haunting fragility of humanity’s only home floating like a blue pearl in the vastness of space. Through the portholes of the International Space Station, French astronaut Thomas Pesquet has an arresting view of global warming’s repercussions. He used a video call from space to sound the alarm Thursday, as negotiators, government officials and activists continued meeting at a U.N. climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland. We see the pollution of rivers, atmospheric pollution, things like that. What really shocked me on this mission were extreme weather or climate phenomena. We saw entire regions burning from the space station, in Canada, in California. We saw all of California covered by a cloud of smoke and flames with the naked eye from 400 kilometers. From space, the fragility of Earth is a shock. It’s a sensory experience to see just how isolated we are as an oasis, with limited resources. The destructive effects of human activity have become increasingly visible. Year after year, we also know we are beating records for fires, for storms, for floods. And that is very, very visible. I very clearly saw the difference compared to my mission four or five years ago. The goal for climate negotiators in Scotland must be to speed up humanity’s response. There is still a huge job ahead for COP26.

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