In late 1992, the late Henry W. Kendall, a former chair of the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) board of directors, wrote "World Scientists' Warning to Humanity", which begins: "Human beings and the natural world are on a collision course." A majority of the Nobel Prize laureates in the sciences signed the document; about 1,700 of the world's leading scientists appended their signature.
It is sometimes offered in opposition to the Heidelberg Appeal—also signed by numerous scientists and Nobel laureates earlier in 1992—which begins by criticizing "an irrational ideology which is opposed to scientific and industrial progress, and impedes economic and social development." This document is often cited by those who oppose theories relating to climate change.
However, the Heidelberg Appeal offers no specific recommendations and is not an indictment of environmental science: "We fully subscribe to the objectives of a scientific ecology for a universe whose resources must be taken stock of, monitored and preserved. But we herewith demand that this stock-taking, monitoring and preservation be founded on scientific criteria and not on irrational pre-conceptions."
In contrast, the UCS-led petition contains specific recommendations: "We must, for example, move away from fossil fuels to more benign, inexhaustible energy sources to cut greenhouse gas emissions and the pollution of our air and water. ... We must stabilize population."
Famous quotes containing the words world, warning and/or humanity:
“A great number of the disappointments and mishaps of the troubled world are the direct result of literature and the allied arts. It is our belief that no human being who devotes his life and energy to the manufacture of fantasies can be anything but fundamentally inadequate”
—Christopher Hampton (b. 1946)
“What I am now warning the People of is, That the News-Papers of this Island are as pernicious to weak Heads in England as ever Books of Chivalry to Spain; and therefore shall do all that in me lies, with the utmost Care and Vigilance imaginable, to prevent these growing Evils.”
—Richard Steele (1672–1729)
“Production and consumption are the nipples of modern society. Thus suckled, humanity grows in strength and beauty; rising standard of living, all modern conveniences, distractions of all kinds, culture for all, the comfort of your dreams.”
—Raoul Vaneigem (b. 1934)