Climate Action Now!

topic:	Climate action
located:	USA, Germany, Sweden, India, China, South Africa, Nigeria, Iceland
editor:	Gurmeet Singh

Today is the Global Day of Climate Action.

In spite of the pandemic, people all across the world are carrying out cautious, socially-distanced events to highlight the need for action, not talk, on climate change.

WWF highlighted the importance of continued action on climate change, collecting the thoughts of various young activists:

“Kirtanya Lutchminarayan from South Africasays, “We are in a climate planetary emergency. We need business, government, civil society, and individual citizens to come on board and act for humanity’s survival and a resilient future. We need stronger alliances and to replace overconsumption with regenerative ways of being.”

Oluwaseun Salami from Nigeria says, “The future we hope for is only a result of the today we strive for. Without urgent attention by our leaders to sharply reduce emissions, we face devastating consequences. We must secure tomorrow from today."

Brynjar Bragi Einarsson from Iceland says, “We can easily see climate change just by looking at glaciers, which have become smaller and some even disappeared. An example is the glacier Ok. This shows us that climate change is real, and we need some big actions now before it's too late to act.”

In the midst of a pandemic, when climate change has been pushed to the back of peoples’ minds, it’s more important than ever to bring it back into focus. Especially as leaders and institutions will become less urgent about the topic, hoping that they won’t have to deal with it. In an opinion piece, DW writes:

“More than two years have passed since FFF founder Greta Thunberg embarked on her first solo strike outside the Swedish parliament….Much has happened in that time. Highest-ever temperature records have been broken, Siberia, Australia, the US have all experienced unprecedented fires connected to global heating…US President Donald Trump has given the green light for oil and gas development in Alaska's Arctic refuge, and Germany is not planning to kick its coal habit until 2038….[But there is hope. Although] politicians would be unlikely to hold up their hands and attribute big policy shifts to a group — albeit a big one — of teenagers and 20-somethings, but it's hard to imagine they haven't been touched by the influence and tenacity of this movement that has spawned countless sub-groups and proved itself difficult to ignore.”

And the BBC highlighted the need for action, writing that recent devastating fires in California are linked to climate change.

“Climate change is driving the scale and impact of recent wildfires that have raged in California, say scientists.

Their analysis finds an "unequivocal and pervasive" role for global heating in boosting the conditions for fire.

California now has greater exposure to fire risks than before humans started altering the climate, the authors say.”

Extreme weather events are not going to go away. Without action, they will become more frequent, as the earth’s climates change. The UN Roundtable on the subject had this to say: "the global climate increase must be limited to 1.5 degrees, and carbon neutrality reached by 2050, with a dramatic reduction in emissions by 2030.

Countries need to present updated climate action plans before COP26, in a year’s time, and all actors, from cities to companies to NGOs, need to present their own transition plans.”

So the world’s most prominent diplomatic and political institution has implicitly agreed: we cannot stop man-made climate change altogether, we can only limit the change.

What’s more, this limitation needs to be carried out in a fair and equitable way. The Global South will suffer more from the effects of climate change than the Global North. With the world changing its tune on international action, it’s vital that we renew our energies on both climate change and international solidarity.

Image by Fridays For Future

Call to Action

Back the climate children!