SCHIFFER FOUNDATION
5 facts about climate change we can’t deny
No more boring weather talks, only facts!
Short and comprehensive write up about what is to expect in next years.
- Earth is warming up => extreme temperatures => climate refugees, wars, famine
2. Water and precipitation is redistributing => longer and harsher atmospheric anomalies => refugees, wars, famine
3. Climate change denial is a real problem.
Although other things about climate change are hard enough to fight, there is one which only humans could have created — a conspiracy theory. Like many other conspiracy theories, this one is resistant to logical argumentation, spread mostly in boomers and obviously denied by those who deny science as such. The better people are educated, the better they understand that there an immense amount of evidence showing the climate is changing; not all are ready to cope with it, though. Check out the impressive list of myths about climate change here.
Education and general acceptance of science play the most significant role in fighting climate change denial. Compare the grade of people estimating their own knowledge about climate change:
and the educational index globally in 2019
While those graphs certainly resemble each other, the curious thing is the outliers. For instance, Ethiopia is not even close to a leader in educating its population; nevertheless, people are aware that climate change is happening. How come? Ethiopia’s geography is the reason for its environmental diversity. Still, at the same time, the country has faced a historic drought in 2015 accompanied by war and famine — quite an obvious thing to comprehend. Climate change hits the warm regions of the harshest.
Is it what expects all of us in 20 years? Spoiler: yes, unless we act now.
4. Ecosystems changing => destabilized CO2, water and oxygen circulation => disturbance in the balance of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere => extreme atmospheric anomalies => refugees, wars, famine
5. Sea level rises by a meter since 1995.
Amsterdam and half of the Netherlands will be underwater when it adds up one more meter (unless they build one more *dam). In 2035 in the best case. => Climate refugees in Europe in 2030.
Some would think: I’m in America/Asia/Australia (unless you are not), nothing’s gonna happen. Didn’t you think the same about coronavirus? Spoiler: yes.
Who cares?
Amsterdam is not the only place to be drowned in the next years. And compare: the war in Syria caused 12 million people to seek humanitarian help, 600k have applied for asylum in Europe, causing the far-right political shift in Europe, destabilizing the political landscape, and feeding the irrational fears and feeble minds of the old mice. AfD, Front National, UKeep, and of course, Donald are the only the most noticeable fruits of it.
The world is interconnected, and nothing is happening on Earth concerning only a single region. The coronavirus pandemic demonstrates it, obviously.
Imagine the world, where according to the estimation of IPCC from 2008, 200 million people have to seek asylum by 2050, which is around 15 times as much as the Near East crisis. All around the world, additionally to those who are fleeing from war or political or religious assault.
That is a fact
We must not forget: state of today (November 2020), one of the biggest CO2 emission producer has left the Paris Agreement.
Maybe even the biggest: 20% of China’s products will be consumed in the US. Now when Biden was elected, there is more hope for change for all of us. But the USA is a tremendous bureaucratic monster, slow and clumsy; Biden is 77 and the second term of his presidency is very unlikely. This probably means that all of his presidency will be dedicated to undoing the trumpy damage, including the Paris Agreement, so the precious time is already lost. All this having the coronavirus pandemic soaking the resources and distracting the public's attention from climate change.
But how is that concerning you?
My peach is on fire
The conclusion is plain and simple: you are fucked; we are fucked. If you have or plan kids, they are fucked even more because what we do now is not enough.
Look at your child, your partner, yourself in the mirror, and say clearly:
My life will stay like this for maximum of 10 years if I don’t do anything about it. In 10 years, my life and my children's life will become a horrible misery ending with a catastrophic collapse of civilization because all I cared about was my own well being.
I can’t plan ahead of 10 years, because I don’t know how the world will look like. All I have done so far will count no more because the world as we know it now will cease to exist.
One of the oldest parts of the program of life is: Fight or Flight. For now, we have only two options: to untangle the Gordian knot or to bury the head in the sand. And I don’t know which is better, because I’m frightened of what is about to come.
