Kicking off the community by talking about why we need to talk about climate change
Hey there 👋
We cannot describe how happy and excited we were to see all of you showing up in our learning Circle on Wednesday: Bhairevi, Karn, Rohan [Sharma], Shanya, Rohan [Suresh], Nikhil, Khushi, Yash, Vinod, Sai, Shalini, Surya, Gurleen, Prateek, Rahul, Nikunj!
We looked at a summary of a recently released report, termed as one of the most important reports on climate change!
We learned that there is a body of the United Nations (UN) called the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that publishes key reports on climate change that are used as the basis for all climate-related discussions around the world.
This report is the second report in their trilogy that talks about how climate change is impacting us and the planet right now along with how people around the world are adapting to the effects of climate change (that is what “climate adaptation” means).
Here were the key takeaways covered in the video:
Extreme events like hurricanes, which are being worsened by climate change, are already impacting human lives.
Although climate change impacts all of us, it doesn’t affect us equally. Usually, people who are already disadvantaged and have contributed the least to the problem suffer the most.
The report talks about the present tense indicating that climate change is not a problem of the future. It is here! Shanya shared that climate change is often portrayed as an apocalypse scenario which is why it doesn’t feel real (P.S. a world war breaking out also seemed very unlikely :P) while Surya raised an important point that many people in India feel that we are not as responsible for the climate change as the Western countries (e.g. US, Canada, UK) are, since they have historically polluted the most.
As things get hotter, the effects of climate change will keep becoming worse.
The report, for the first time, talks about the mental health impact of climate change around the world including grief about the loss caused by it and anxiety about the future. Shalini mentioned how the countryside tends to have fresh air whereas development in urban areas is coming at a cost to nature, pollution being one of them. Rohan [Suresh] also shared his grief as he has personally been affected by climate disasters. A common theme across various members was finding peace and calm in the moments spent in nature! 🎋
Now, there are many ways in which we can adapt to this changing climate. For example, restoring coastal wetlands like mangroves can provide protection from flooding.
The report mentions that the current limits to adaptation are financial. That is, we are not providing enough resources for the areas that need to adapt. However, we might soon reach “hard limits” which cause irreversible damage. For example, the ice caps were formed when the Earth went through an ice age. Even if we stabilize the Earth’s temperature, those ice caps are not going to grow back.
Okay, that was a grim read!
But if everything was lost, we would not be here trying our best to prevent the worst, right? (while, as Rohan [Sharma] highlighted, our psychology also prevents us from accepting that we won’t survive)
The fact is that every bit of warming matters. Although we have lost a lot, we still have a lot to save. And our collective actions today determine our present and our future. Nikhil had asked for more details on how can we adapt which can be found in this in-depth Q&A on the report. As Bhairevi pointed out, this is a perfectly selfish act and not philanthropy because it is our lives and the lives of our loved ones at stake. The Earth is millions of years old. It knows how to take care of itself. It will require all of us, to work closely with communities, organizations, the government, and especially, marginalized groups, to find solutions that are most relevant for our local context.
We are always looking for feedback on how we can improve. Please consider sharing your thoughts with us at ecorageous@gmail.com!
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