11 minute read
I’ve got 99 problems but Climate Change ain’t
9 9 9 9 have no choice but to increase the price of these products. For you, what was once a staple part of your diet may just turn into a luxury item you can very rarely afford. Coffee. One necessity for nearly everyone. It’s an accommodating potion, helping us work through the night to meet our deadlines. A quick pick-me-up in the middle of a long day. Soon, you may have to find a replacement. Most coffee comes from the Arabica coffee tree which flourishes in the cool temperatures of mountain slopes. As temperatures increase, farmers are forced to travel further to find cool air for these trees to grow. If we continue at the rate we’re going, eventually cool air will be a sensation of the past. One article estimates that by 2050, we have a high risk of losing nearly half of the land that is suitable for the growth of coffee beans due to the drastic changes in the climate. It seems we may have to find a new drink to replace the iconic pumpkin spice latte. Are you prone to a pint of beer or two on a Friday evening? It’s a classic drink many have alongside a fabulous Sunday roast. If it’s something you enjoy and drink regularly, you should know that production of the key ingredients in beer are threatened by the effects of climate change. The consequences of climate change range from drought to heavy rainfall. Both can damage hops and barley crops which would, thus, cause a decline in beer production. An article from the scientific journal Nature Plants suggests that as beer manufacturing decreases, prices will inevitably increase. It’ll be like Freddos all over again but, instead, beer fear. One day, you’ll sit and reminisce over just how much of a bargain a pint used to be. The impact climate change will have on our everyday lives is immense. Zoya Gulshin sheds light on the ways in which we will be affected if we don’t act now. What comes into your head when you think of climate change? Global warming? Rising sea levels? Paper straws? I certainly hope the thought ‘it’s not my problem’ isn’t one that pops up. If everyone shared this mentality, the outcome would be catastrophic. Climate change is your problem, whether you like it or not. It’s easy to brush off the topic and fool yourself into thinking that climate change is a concern for anyone but yourself. An issue for anyone, ranging from the government to big corporations and maybe even future generations, to solve. Adopting this kind of mindset may be easier; one less stress for us in a world that appears to constantly fuel our anxieties. “Climate change is your problem, whether you like it or not” In this world I’ve got 99 problems, but climate change is not one. Well it should be. Here’s a very small list detailing how climate change will affect you directly. As students, we live on a very tight budget. We thank God for blessing us with the likes of Aldi and Lidl, and marvel at the wide range of budget-friendly options they have to offer. There is no better feeling than picking up an inexpensive loaf of bread and having money left over to treat yourself to something else. Well, hold onto that feeling as you may not be experiencing it for much longer. The United Nations reports that climate change is affecting food security severely. Increases in the incidence and intensity of heatwaves and droughts will have knock-on effects on the growth and production of staple crops. As production decreases, retailers will I’VE GOT 99 PROBLEMS BUT CLIMATE CHANGE AIN’T ONE “
”22 IMPACT
9 9 “A scarce supply of safe drinking water may sound dystopian, but this could very much become our reality” One thing every single one of us needs, regardless of our lifestyle, is water. We all drink and use water in our daily lives. Well, did you know that climate change will have an effect on drinking water? This alone should be enough to convince you that global warming is actually your problem. Around the world, lakes and rivers, which provide groundwater wells for over 3 billion people are drying up due to the scorching heat. Yes, you can survive without beer and coffee, but water is a necessity for the body. There is no substitute. A scarce supply of safe drinking water may sound dystopian, but this could very much become our reality. The World Health Organisation reports that, annually, over seven million people die worldwide due to air pollution. The increased burning of fossil fuels contributes to greenhouse gasses being trapped in the atmosphere. This causes temperatures to soar. Aside from drying up lakes and damaging agriculture, intense heat can lead to fatal heat stroke. If food and drink insecurity have not yet made you think, the detrimental health effects of global warming should. Statistically, you have a 1/1000 chance of being a victim to the lethal effects of air pollution. It may not sound like a lot, but if we consider that the University of Nottingham has around 34,000 students, that’s 34 individuals affected. FEATURES
The WWF says, “no matter what we’re passionate about, something we care about will be affected by climate change.”
“Statistically, you have a 1/1000 chance of being a victim to the lethal effects of air pollution” Whether you’re a coffeedependent species or you enjoy your affordable food finds, climate change will undoubtedly affect you. 23
You may think it’s not your problem because, after all, one person’s actions won’t change anything, right? Wrong. I once read a story about a couple who tactically decided to vote in a constituency outside of their own. This area had last voted for a Tory MP. These two individuals voted for an MP who ended up winning. By two votes. Your input and contribution always count or something. If you’re not willing to do it for yourself, do it for the generations ahead: your future kids and grandkids. You wouldn’t want them living in a world where safe drinking water is written on their wish-list for Christmas, would you? “We’re the first generation to know we’re destroying the world, but we could be the last to do anything about it.” – WWF.
Zoya Gulshin
Eco-Anxiety: Are we all Doomed? ‘Eco-anxiety’ may not be a phrase that we all recognise, but it’s likely we’ve all felt it. Georgia Cavanagh examines this anxiety and how it can be used for good. When I bring up the phrase ‘eco-anxiety’, the majority of people have no idea what I’m talking about. I was only introduced to the concept a few months ago, while researching my dissertation on the history of environmental activism. Investigating it has now become a key part of my work. “Describing the term as ‘a chronic fear of environmental doom’” Recent trends of ‘youth’ activism attest to our generation’s unique global consciousness. With communication platforms linking the world and reporting becoming a task not only for journalists but for anyone online, stories of crises are more and more common. Under these circumstances, it is easy to become overwhelmed by the world’s problems. Subsequently, eco-anxiety can be linked both to this easy access to information and to our generation’s concern for global issues, especially as they become increasingly severe. IMPACT 24
The 2017 report ‘Mental Health and Our Changing Climate’, a collaboration between the American Psychological Association, Climate for Health and ecoAmerica, references ‘eco-anxiety’ multiple times as a direct outcome of widening awareness of environmental degradation. Describing the term as ‘a chronic fear of environmental doom’, the report argues that ‘delayed destruction’ of the environment can be just as detrimental to mental health as acute events, such as hurricanes or flooding. Related problems include ‘fear, anger, feelings of powerlessness, or exhaustion’, especially when considering climate change’s potentially fatal impact on the future of our species. The report demonstrates that many people of all ages, though predominantly young people, suffer immense guilt and frustration over their inability to feel like they are making a tangible difference in preventing climate change.
The acuteness of this eco-anxiety is aggravated by its foundations in proven scientific research, such that it cannot be disregarded as an irrational fear. Indeed, with every emotive call from trusted organisations such as the United Nations, which has urged ‘urgent and unprecedented changes’ to reverse the effects of carbon emissions, anxieties are compounded.
Nevertheless, experts assert that eco-anxiety is not a mental illness, with Sarah Niblock of the UK Council for Psychotherapy arguing ‘it’s a perfectly normal and healthy reaction’.
Accordingly, in a BBC documentary on the condition, Sam Johnston concurs that ‘Eco-anxiety is the right response to the scale of the challenge’. In the face of all the negativity surrounding the state of the planet, he remains optimistic, viewing the current political climate as one in which ‘individuals have more power than at any time in history’, where ideas can quickly go from ‘marginal to mainstream’.
Indeed, in light of all this bad news for mental health, there is a positive side to the phenomenon of eco-anxiety. The activism stemming from this panic for our planet’s future may well be what stops these fears from becoming a reality. As Greta Thunberg forcefully declared in 2018: ‘Adults keep saying, we owe it to the young people to give them hope. But I don’t want your hope, I don’t want you to be hopeful, I want you to panic’.
FEATURES 25 Extinction Rebellion: Plight or Fight? Extinction Rebellion have attracted extensive media coverage with their recent climate change protests. Olivia Stock considers whether these disruptive demonstrations may lead to more people turning against the movement than sympathising with it.
Since being launched in May 2018 by a group of experienced climate activists, Extinction Rebellion has evolved into a lumbering behemoth of a climate change movement. In the past year, with help from the BBC’s Attenborough documentary and widespread school climate strikes, the organisation has tenaciously propelled the climate emergency into the top five most important issues facing the UK today.
But despite its steadfast aims and relentless political tenacity, the movement has been criticised in recent months for its polarisation of climate change issues and alienation of certain groups from the climate discussion. November’s protest at Canning Town saw angry commuters drag two Extinction Rebellion protesters off the roof of an underground train in a working class, historically poor district of east London during morning rush hour. Their protest, which disrupted thousands of peoples’ journeys to work, was swiftly criticized as misjudged and out of touch by members of the public and the press. This highlights what many argue is the problem with mass environmental movements: they are too white, too middle class, and lacking in empathy for the least affluent in society. “Business as usual = Death,” read the banner held by the protesters; their towering over a platform packed with furious commuters ironically emblematic of the movements lofty ideals and raging out-of-touchness from the needs and commitments of London’s working class.
Affairs like these have led to accusations against the movement as a hobby for the bourgeois elite; a class with time on their hands and the luxury to disengage from wider discussions surrounding labour and wages. A “white middle-class ghetto”, one NGO chief called the wider environmental movement, finding the green profession which includes the work of organisations like XR to be the second least diverse of all UK sectors. In order to avoid such pitfalls, the movement must balance the need for change with the public’s need to earn. Whilst deeply efficacious at making people acknowledge green issues, disruptive protests also make people contemplate how late they now are for work. “We recognise that this action unnecessarily targets ordinary commuters and disrupts London transport – which is an eco-friendly way to travel,” Extinction Rebellion posted on Facebook
following the protest. “Although we are pushing for disruption and civil disobedience, we are still learning how to do this in a way that does not result in violence, and that does not discriminate against hard-working individuals.”
Thus, whilst there is no doubt that Extinction Rebellion has helped put climate change on the UK’s political agenda, forcing parliament to declare a Climate Emergency in the aftermath of recent rallies, the movement must make ongoing commitments to inclusivity and political transparency to ensure victory of not only the battle but the war. Failing to do so risks their logo, an hourglass within a circle and a symbol of time running out for our planet, becoming quickly symbolic of the movement’s declining political reverence. After all, climate change does not discriminate and, thus, neither should the movements that fight it.
Olivia Stock Illustration & Page Design by Natasha Phang-Lee
