Climate Action: Humanity's Moment of Truth

By C. Schall Gontijo

According to NOAA's 2023 Annual Climate Report, the combined land and ocean temperature has increased at an average rate of 0.06 degrees Celsius per decade since 1980. This statistic shows how at this point in time, humanity can make a choice: avert catastrophe or cause irreversible damage to our planet. In this article, we will be discussing current challenges, opportunities and the moral responsibility that accompanies the climate crisis.

Melting glaciers and warming oceans are causing sea levels to rise, threatening coastal populations. There has been an increase and intensification of wildfires, as well as a significant decrease in biodiversity. Not only that, but as our ecosystems are destroyed, animals migrate and come into closer contact with humans, which can therefore potentialize the spread of disease. It is also important to notice that all of these changes will affect vulnerable populations more, due to varying degrees of adaptive capacity, shaped by socioeconomic and locational factors.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) has attributed the climate crisis to human activity. The burning of fossil fuels has majorly increased the carbon dioxide, which is a greenhouse gas, levels in Earth’s atmosphere. Therefore, in order for us to potentially reverse the crisis, we need to adopt solutions urgently, such as the use of renewable energy sources, like solar, wind, or geothermal energy.

The Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement are both international treaties that aim to reduce climate change and to promote sustainable development through the setting of goals individual to each country. The lack of legal binding and the lack of initiative to implement practical measures are both elements that hinder progress of those international efforts. This shows us how important and urgent this moment is for humanity, and that if we continue to do nothing to reverse the situation, the climate crisis will only continue to worsen and wipe out the entire human race with it.

It is pivotal to recognise that each one of us has a part in this. Governments can set emission targets, regulate pollution, and invest in renewable energy. Corporations can reduce emissions and invest in low-carbon methods. And individuals can do even the simplest of things to help: biking or walking to work instead of taking a car, reducing plastic consumption, and supporting sustainable waste management.

It is truly admirable how youth activists, such as Greta Thunberg, have been essential in capturing global attention and educating the world, especially the younger generations, about this pressing issue and the need to make the solving of it an international priority. This idea of community is important in finding long term solutions. We need this collaboration to ensure climate justice for all, as well as shared accountability for our situation.

So, as the window to limit global warming narrows, will we act decisively, or will we pass the burden of our inaction to future generations? Let us not view climate action as a challenge, but instead as an opportunity to redefine our relationship with our planet, our home.