On Thursday, a French astronaut reported the destruction of the Earth’s climate change seen from space and called it a “sad scene” in a conversation with President Emmanuel Macron.
Thomas Pesquite told Macron through a video link in the second international space station (ISS) orbiting the earth that even 400 kilometers away, the destructive effects of human activities are becoming more and more obvious.
“Unfortunately, Mr. President,” Pesquite said. “Through the porthole of the space station, we clearly see the fragility of the earth,” he said. “We have seen the destructive effects of human activities, river pollution and air pollution.”
He said that astronauts on the space station have observed that “the whole area is burning, just like in Canada. We saw California shrouded in smoke, and we saw the flames with our naked eyes,” he said.
The pilot said that similar damage could be seen in Greece and southern France, and described the “tragic scene of repeated tropical storms.”
When Macron asked whether the situation had changed since Pesquet’s first mission in 2016, the astronaut said: “Yes, weather phenomena are accelerating at an alarming rate.”
Macron was obviously shocked by this observation, was silent for a while, and then said: “We must accelerate our commitment and the speed of its implementation. This is the goal of COP26,” he said, referring to the ongoing UN-sponsored climate conference.
Pesquet is an astronaut of the European Space Agency and currently the commander of the International Space Station.
Five years after his first trip to the International Space Station, he will return to Earth in the next few days and work on the space station for the second time for six months.
