UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres issued an indictment of humanity's "war" on the environment Wednesday, CNN reported. https://edition.cnn.com/2020/12/02/world/un-state-of-the-planet-guterres-speech-intl/index.html

"We are facing a devastating pandemic, new heights of global heating, new lows of ecological degradation and new setbacks in our work towards global goals for more equitable, inclusive and sustainable development," Guterres said in the address, delivered at Columbia University in New York.

"To put it simply, the state of the planet is broken."

"Humanity is waging war on nature. This is suicidal. Nature always strikes back -- and it is already doing so with growing force and fury," he said, as biodiversity collapses, species risk extinction, deserts spread and forests are lost.

"Oceans are overfished -- and choking with plastic waste. The carbon dioxide they absorb is acidifying the seas. Coral reefs are bleached and dying," he said.

"Air and water pollution are killing 9 million people annually -- more than six times the current toll of the pandemic. And with people and livestock encroaching further into animal habitats and disrupting wild spaces, we could see more viruses and other disease-causing agents jump from animals to humans."