Environmental Advocacy

Climate change is one of the greatest threats to human welfare, and Hawking was a fervent supporter of radical reforms in an industrial civilization to halt the rising trend. He did, after all, issue harsh warnings about the perils of AI and the necessity of leaving Earth. His support for our planet has the most weight given that the first signs of climate change are already here, even though his comments caused many headlines.

Over ten years ago, he warned world leaders about the dangers of unrestrained emissions; since then, there have been many advances, but there have also been losses. We still have faith that sane minds will prevail in due course, and we'll honor Hawking's memory by redoubling our efforts even though the present administration is systematically undermining environmental regulations.

According to Hawking, overpopulation and energy consumption will convert Earth into a massive ball of fire by the year 2600, rendering it uninhabitable. In a BBC program last year, he declared, "Our own planet is increasingly precarious due to climate change, overdue asteroid hits, plagues, and population expansion." In order to survive, people will have to move to another planet. According to Hawking, if humans don't colonize another planet within the next 100 years, they will go extinct.