Background and Context

The severe threat of climate change, or changes in the Earth’s temperature, was discerned many decades ago. Since the 1980s, scientists, activists and concerned observers have warned repeatedly of the serious and existential challenges that await us if the international community does not act swiftly to curb global warming and all that comes with. But has anyone been listening and even if they are listening, what are they doing to address this concerning issue? Indeed, despite persistent calls to action and convincing scientific data to substantiate its urgency, climate change remains in a stubborn status quo, mostly enabled by industries that thrive on the utilization and sale of fossil fuels, mainly for profit. Everyday reminders of worsening climate change, such as unbearably hot summers, intensifying hurricanes and raging wildfires inter alia, signal not only an existing problem but an ominous future. After all if it is this bad now, how bad will it be in ten years’ time? Even given this frightening situation, industry remains enabled by lax regulations and sympathetic politicians to continue exploiting the Earth and endangering it at the same time. As the status quo remains, a serious climate threat endures. Now is not the time to wait, however: climate change should be dealt with proactively and energetically, despite the many hindrances to reform that exist.

Climate change remains an enduring problem partly because political leaders around the world disregard its urgency and in turn often downplay the stark nature of it. A common perception of climate change among some is that it is a threat for the future, not for the present time. However, this perception amounts to nothing more than a dangerous misconception. The science, in this regard, is clear. Since the age of Western industrialization, when fossil fuels began to be used readily, i.e. the late 1800s, the Earth’s temperature has risen about 1.4 degrees Celsius. ¹ Most scientists acknowledge that this rapid and unsafe warming of the Earth has been driven by human beings and most readily, by the usage of non-renewable energy, such as oil, gas and coal. Climate scientists predict that if the Earth continues to get warmer at the current rate, many species will go extinct and eventually the Earth will become too warm to be inhabitable for all species. Specifically, if the world cannot keep the temperature rise to at most 1.5 degrees Celsius in the next few decades, the effects on plant, animal and human life will be devastating. But this goal, included in the 2015 United Nations climate treaty called the Paris Agreement, remains elusive, as the world is not on track to meet it currently. As the UN chillingly notes: “Yet policies currently in place point to up to 3.1°C of warming by the end of the century.” ² This increase is directly related to persistent fossil fuel usage and the subsequent rises in temperature over the past decade, 2015-2024, which was the warmest decade on record. ³

The Politics of Denial and Lasting Consequences

But even given this concerning scientific consensus, leaders in certain countries not only diminish climate change’s threat, but some also outright deny the reality of climate change, calling it a “hoax”. The consequences of this issue can already be palpably felt across the world regardless of what some think or say. Climate change has created a new and more frightening reality that has had deleterious effects on human life, including causing higher levels of human displacement. Thousands of people across regions have been forced to leave their homes because of the effects of climate change. For example, droughts and the resulting lack of water, in areas of the world have forced people to seek new homes, sometimes very far away from their own. These people have been rightfully categorized as “internally displaced people” or “refugees”, those who have been forced to flee their homes due to a reason beyond their control. But they are not typical refugees, fleeing conflict or natural disasters, they are migrants fleeing the effects of climate change. A new term has been coined for them in our precarious era: “climate refugees”. Although this term is not recognized by international law yet, it does capture the urgency and severity of the issue.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR), “climate-related disasters” caused “more than half of displacements in 2022”. ⁴ Furthermore, UNHCR notes: “The nearly 32 million displacements caused by weather-related hazards in 2022 represents a 41 per cent increase compared to 2008 levels.” ⁵ Climate change is causing the dwindling of key resources in certain countries that are already facing poverty and resource scarcity. For example, in Cameroon in 2021, thousands of people were forced to flee their homes when violence erupted between herders and fishermen, who were fighting over the diminishing supplies of water due to drought in that area of the world. ⁶ Climate change not only affects the world directly, but it is linked to the exacerbation of other problems, such as lack of healthcare and existing ethnic conflict. When resources became scarcer, populations will turn on one another more easily and resort to violence to ensure their survival.

Furthermore, as temperatures continue to rise on a yearly level, the effects of climate change can already be seen on biodiversity, especially in many island nations, otherwise rich in animal and plant species. For example, a 2018 report found that 25% of Madagascar’s species could go extinct by 2080, even if the Paris Agreement’s goal of curbing global warming is met. ⁷ The Guardian notes: ”More than 120 of the 219 mammal species alive today on the island are threatened with extinction.” ⁸ Such a loss to biodiversity will be per se lamentable but this can also affect other species, including our own. Any disruption in the fragile ecosystem can cause more serious and substantial consequences. The answer is there not to ignore or accept but to prevent and act. Another effect of climate change is the rapid rise of the sea. Rising sea levels, mostly due to melting glaciers, are causing the disturbing erosion of island nations. Scientists warn that 80% of the Maldives can be uninhabitable by 2050 due to rising sea levels. ⁹ Madagascar faces a similar threat to its coastline. The general rise in sea levels can also have a greater impact closer to home, on our very own city, New York City, which is a series of islands, upon which very tall and heavy buildings rest. Scientists caution that the weight of these buildings in addition to rising sea levels around New York may eventually cause worse floods due to hurricanes and more concerningly, the eventual destruction of much of our great city. This issue is not that distant after all.

International Urgency

Climate change is indeed the pressing global issue of our time. Its importance has been recognized by the largest and most influential international organization, the United Nations. Indeed, a global framework for combatting climate change already exists. As mentioned, the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015 and remains a blueprint for action. The United Nations has also dedicated six of its seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to climate change reform. ¹⁰ The UN SDGs aim to reduce the suffering of people around the world by addressing common problems such as poverty, disease, gender inequality, among other concerns. SDGs 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), 13 (Climate Action), 14 (Life Below Water), and 15 (Life on Land), directly deal with the global issue of climate change, but in practice all seventeen SDGs intersect with this pressing issue. All global issues are interconnected and without dealing with the core causes that exacerbate them, such as the overemphasis on profit at the expense of quality of life and fairness, we will not be able to move forward collectively and progressively. The UN is thus aware of this issue of climate change and is a driving force in finding solutions for it. In 2019, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres pithily encompassed climate change as being: “The most systemic threat to humankind”. ¹¹

A Reason for Hope

But is important to also keep in mind that there is still hope and the possibility for systemic change exists. This will require a collective effort that will also necessitate a much sterner regulation of fossil-fuel industries. Political leaders must realize the severity of this issue and act accordingly, otherwise our world become uninhabitable and unrecognizable. Hope can be gleaned from an inspiring source: youth activists. “Generation Z”, or those born roughly from 1997-2012, are taking a leading role in raising awareness about the perils of climate change. Generation Z has recognized that they have inherited an inequitable, damaged and unjust world, where the interests of business have created an ailing and unhealthy planet. They also realize that they are the direct heirs to this problematic planet and are thus working very hard to reverse the effects of global warming, so they have a planet to live on in decades to come. The most famous advocate in this respect is, of course, Greta Thunberg, a climate change activist originally from Sweden. When Greta was 15, in 2018, she skipped school for a few months to protest the inefficiency of climate change reform, in front of the Swedish Parliament. Her actions drew international media attention, and she made speeches all over the world, framing her outrage in generational terms, largely blaming older generations for their exploitative ways, which have left her and her generation in a serious climate crisis. Thunberg is not the only youth activist inspiring others to act, however. Indigenous youth climate activists are also speaking up for their rich cultures and by extension for the health and prosperity of the entire world. Emmanuela Shinta, a youth indigenous activist from Indonesia, protested “slash and burn” policies of the Indonesian government to clear land for farming on her home island of Borneo. Shinta eventually created a foundation to raise awareness about this issue among the youth community in her hometown, resulting in awareness and further activism. Social media is also playing a part in this youth fight. ¹² Young people are using social media platforms to exchange information and disseminate a call to action regarding climate change. Naelyn Pike, a 21-year-old Indigenous and environmental rights activist from the Chiricahua Apache in southeast Arizona, has used social media to galvanize efforts to protect the Oak Flat, a sacred Apache site located in her hometown. ¹³ The actions of young people are spurring a youth movement that may just shift the stubborn status quo to an age of accelerated and promising climate change reform momentum.

The Time to Act

Climate change reform will therefore necessitate advocacy, invention and the utilization of current tools, such as social media, to communicate the urgency of the issue. The threat of climate change is not imminent, but it is already here. From the reality of millions of climate refugees to the wildfires that engulf cities from the West Coast of the United States to the Adriatic Sea, to the droughts that complicate the lives of millions of people denying them access to water, climate change is a force that will not be dealt with by denial or procrastination. Nor will it go away on its own. An intentional and concerted effort is needed to fight it – otherwise the mighty tides within raised sea levels will be too powerful be turned back. So, it is up to all of us to decide the way forward, at the collective and proverbial fork in the road we face: do we pivot to a more sustainable and equitable future by taking climate change seriously, or do we continue our perilous path to no more?