C A L L T O C O M B AT C L I M AT E C H A N G E Writer Alana Huehn proposes the steps individuals can take to exercise their rights as citizens and consumers by thinking globally and acting locally
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WORDS BY ALANA HUEHN
the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has served a wakeup call for the planet. The dominant narrative is that us humans are “unequivocally” responsible for the warming of the atmosphere, ocean and land, causing climate change. We created it and if we don’t do something about it and do it now, the trajectory is bleak and by 2050 global temperatures will reach 2 degrees Celsius rise. Meaning catastrophic climate issues. Every fraction of a degree of warming avoided will reduce the amount of people and places affected. Unfortunately, some of the damage that has already been done is irreversible for centuries and even millennia, continuing to occur in the future. Already, the planet has warmed 1 degree Celsius and as a result we’re seeing extreme
14 M. CITIZEN MAGAZINE | ISSUE 05
weather, ice caps melting and sea levels rising. A dire and overwhelming forecast for the future where no place on earth will be excluded from the effects of climate change. As Dr Simon Bradshaw, the Climate Council’s Head of Research states, “it’s going to take everything we’ve got, and this may be our final warning… it’s up to all of us to make sure that happens.” The cost will be huge if we keep ghosting the scientist’s calls. Take a pause because it’s important to know that our current global climate state has a lot to do with governments and private corporations, plus the elephant in the room – fossil fuels. The IPCC report stated that more than 70% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions since 1988 are produced from a mere 100 companies. The colossal power and damage caused by
