We just celebrated Earth Day and paid tribute to our home, the beautiful planet that tenderly nurtures us. Our responsibility must be to continue the same love and concern for this earth, not just for a day but for the other 364 days as well, because our earth is facing an immediate and severe Climate
Change crisis.
We are fast coming on a critical point of no return. 2030 is the deadline for cutting global greenhouse emissions by around 45 %. That is the only path to keeping global warming to within 1.5 degrees centigrade of pre-industrial levels. At temperatures that are higher, our entire ice sheet could melt, creating self-perpetuating loops that will reduce rainfall and perpetuate uncontrolled heating of the earth. We are talking about jeopardizing human habitation on earth! Yet, it is shocking fact that the national conversation right now is absolutely silent on the dangers of Climate Change.
What is climate change and why is it happening? Climate change is a manmade phenomenon directly connected to excessive use of fossil fuels like oil and gas. This is an irrefutable fact, proven by innumerable scientific studies. But, of course, the fossil fuel industry has fought tooth and nail to
cover up and deny these facts for over half a century. We now know that Exxon oil company’s own scientists were warning us as early as the 1970’s, that the use of fossil fuels would increase carbon dioxide gas to unnatural and dangerous levels in earth’s atmosphere.
Normally, gases are good things. They serve to trap heat and keep the earth warm enough for human habitation. But too much carbon dioxide can trap too much heat and substantially over-heat the planet’s climate. I think we are all aware how delicate the balance of nature is and how beautifully it supports life. We are talking about completely overturning and destroying that balance.
The scientific studies that predicted these consequences were suppressed and ignored by the industry and nothing was ever done to shift from fossil fuels. As a result, the rise of CO2 in the atmosphere has been rampant, and the results today are devastating. What we are facing is an existential crisis due to an increasingly hotter planet.
As we all know, water is life. The issues of climate change and water are inextricably linked and cannot be separated. Most fresh water is stored on earth as snow, as glaciers, and as ice sheets. As temperatures rise due to climate change, snow and ice are rapidly melting. What comes with each degree of added heat is more water evaporation, more storms, more dry spells and more drought. Weather extremes also have other ripple effects: there will be increases in wildfires, destabilization in agriculture and – and most concerning – less water to drink!
Half the globe’s population is already experiencing severe water scarcity at certain times of the year. Over two billion people worldwide do not have access to safe drinking water. We are in this growing global water crisis because water resources are not being replenished by nature. This is partly due to overuse of water by people, but mainly it is the result of disruptions and decrease in natural rainfall patterns caused by climate change. We are becoming trapped in a dangerous cycle of less rainfall causing climate
change and climate change causing less rainfall.
At MAPA, we are concerned that there are strong indications already that, as water becomes increasingly threatened and scarce, wars will be fought over water, as the irreplaceable commodity of the future. Tensions between India and its smaller neighbors over rivers, and the attacks on water sources in Palestine by Israel, are palpable evidence of this. There are many other such examples, including in Africa.
We have plenty of evidence that the world’s dependence on fossil fuels is manufactured and artificial because stunning alternatives to fossil fuels, such as solar energy and wind energy do exist. Unfortunately, this hope can only be realized if powerful entities in the world are willing to give up short term profits for the long term good of humanity.
The owners of fossil fuel corporations are rich and influential. The goal of the industry all along has been to perpetuate and maintain their profits. The way they do that is by bankrolling and controlling politicians, the media, the legal system and stock markets. Countering this network of collusion has
proven to be extremely difficult, even though what is in the balance is the very extinction of human habitation on earth! If climate change wrecks the world, the future of all our children is at stake. We will not be able to distinguish between the suffering of the children of the rich, and the children of the poor, except that the poor will feel it first.
There is a fundamental injustice embedded in the Climate Change issue. The richest countries in the world emit 80% of the emissions that cause climate change, yet it is the poorest countries that pay the heaviest price. Historically, the United States has emitted the most carbon emissions into the atmosphere since the beginning of industrialization in 1750, at 24% of total emissions. The US is followed by China at 15% and then Russia by 6.7%.
Let’s look at some examples of what small countries are experiencing. Tuvalu is an island nation, made up of 9 tiny Islands in the Pacific Ocean, that is basically facing extinction. Projections are that 95 % of this nation will be overcome by rising sea water, coastline erosions, storms and cyclones. It will be essentially uninhabitable by 2100.
Let’s also look at Bangladesh because it is the country in our minds and hearts today. Bangladesh is one of those nations that does not contribute to Climate Change at all as it emits less than 0.4% to global carbon dioxide emissions. Yet, it is among the most vulnerable nations that will be severely impacted by the dangers of climate change. It will face displacement of millions of people from coastal areas, and billions of dollars in economic losses. Rising sea water will salinize the ground, affect agriculture and also
increase salt levels in drinking water. At the same time melting glaciers from the Himalayan Mountain ranges will cause floods from overflowing rivers.
Yet, despite these immensely difficult conditions, Bangladesh has led the way in climate adaptation and risk management. It has developed innovative techniques such as floating agriculture and created thousands of cyclone shelters. Bangladesh also shows us the path to hope with its increased use of renewable technologies. Bangladesh has also played an immensely important role as a global leader in international settings, negotiating on behalf of smaller nations with large nations who are huge emitters of CO2.
A central theme in these negotiations has been a demand that industrialized nations who have emitted the majority of carbon emissions and are most responsible for the disasters of climate change, should fund the poorer nations who have been hardest hit, to help them adapt and recover. This is what we call climate justice!
Citizens of wealthy nations like the US, must stand up for justice! This includes every one of us. Many of us have roots in other countries, but we are Americans now. Our job is to ask our government to be accountable and come through at this moment of existential crisis for humankind.
We need to think more strategically about MAPA’s responsibility, as well as an opportunity on this climate change conversation. First, the issue of climate change falls squarely into MAPA’s purview because there is a direct link between US aggression against Venezuela, Cuba, Iran, and others, and the the US goal of controlling fossil fuel resources. This is crystal clear. Second, the chaotic war in Iran is forcing many countries to wake up to the fact that dependence on fossil fuels is self-defeating. This is an opportunity for MAPA to shift the conversation and work towards a transition away from fossil fuels.
by Hayat Imam
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Hayat Imam is a long-time social justice and environmental activist, who is presently Co-Chair of the Mass Peace Action Education Fund Board. She is the former Executive Director of the Boston Women’s Fund and Chair of the Board of Grassroots International. She has worked at BRAC Bangladesh; Women’s Crisis Center and ISIS International in the Philippines; and was a consultant for the State Ministry of Women in Indonesia.
