We are afraid.

We, young Europeans, scientists, NGOs, citizens, are all united by an existential fear about our future.

We used to think that politicians would believe scientific predictions and act accordingly, responsibly and bravely, to avoid the disastrous consequences of climate change.

We put our faith in the Paris Agreement but are now forced to witness, helplessly, the major political failure that is bringing our lives, and all life on Earth, to the brink of collapse.

All we had to do was to listen to science, but we didn’t.
Now, all we have to do, all you have to do, is to open your eyes and see the Earth entering the era of the apocalypse. Listening or believing are no longer required. Only decency, honesty, morality, courage and heart.

On 8 October 2024, some of the most eminent climate and environmental scientists, those that have rung the alarm hundreds of times over the past decades and issued several “warnings to humanity”, slapped us in the face with facts: the world, as we and our ancestors have always known it, is disappearing.

Greenland’s ice mass, Antarctica’s ice mass, and the average glacier thickness are all at record lows. The average global sea level is presently at a record high. Ocean acidification has reached a critical threshold: we may have crossed the seventh planetary boundary out of nine. Last year, we witnessed record-breaking sea surface temperatures, the hottest Northern Hemisphere extratropical summer in 2000 years, and the breaking of many other climate records.

As a result, four million people and billions of animals have already been wiped out by climate disasters. 50% of the world’s coral reefs have perished and thousands of whales have already died of starvation. Weather-related disasters have multiplied by five in the last 50 years, averaging one disaster a day.

What is underway is the destruction of the biosphere, the downfall of the Earth System: a globocide.
In the face of such unprecedented, unequalled, unimaginable facts, not combatting the destruction of the biosphere with full and obsessive determination is nothing short of criminal.

The ocean is an essential, vital ally to avoid the worst. We cannot afford to lose its ability to absorb nearly a third of our CO2 emissions, to operate as a global thermostat, to dictate the water cycle and the stability of agricultural production and food safety worldwide. Yet, all ocean indicators flash red. Its temperature is skyrocketing, inducing storms unseen before in both frequency and strength. Its biodiversity is collapsing under the blows of industrial fishing. Its irreplaceable carbon sinks are at risk. Every year, industrial fishing fleets scrape millions of square kilometers of seabed, releasing millions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The European Union participates directly in this deadly enterprise by channeling millions of public subsidies into fuel tax exemptions, by allocating quotas to destructive fishing, by failing to orchestrate the transition away from bottom trawling and destructive fishing techniques.

The future of humanity lies in the capacity of world leaders to take “immediate, rapid and large-scale” action. These are the words of IPCC climate experts.

Let’s face the truth: no leader has ever borne such responsibility. Your task knows no precedent in human History. What you do or fail to do today determines our ability to survive on Earth. Or not.

We therefore call on your ethics and personal courage to show the way to the rest of the world by declaring a state of climate emergency in Europe and by officially endorsing the “15 points for the ocean” that will save us from a complete climate breakdown.

As the IPCC stressed in its latest report, protecting and restoring ecosystems represents the second most effective lever for scaling up climate action.

We call on you to put an end to the bulldozing of the ocean. To impose the transition away from industrial fishing and the end of harmful subsidies that drive the destruction of the ocean. To make sure we have truly protected marine areas. To prohibit EU-based companies from participating in fossil fuel expansion in Europe and globally. To adopt a moratorium on deep-sea mining. To impose a ban on all kinds of pollutants that are known to ravage ecosystems and penetrate the very tissue of life.

You have declared: “it’s time for an alliance between us and the ocean. And Europe is ready to take the lead.” Today, tens of thousands of citizens and hundreds of civil society organizations united in a Citizen Coalition ask you to turn your own words into decisive political action to protect the cradle of life on our planet.

Mrs. von der Leyen, as President of the European Commission, you are the world’s most powerful woman. Make History. Save our lives. Save the ocean.