Climate Change is a Threat Multiplier
Abstract
Science clearly communicates how truly unprecedented and concerning climate change is today. The evidence surrounds us and even, at times, overwhelms us as ice sheet melt accelerates, weather extremes become unprecedented, and impacts multiply. But many others who agree with the science still view climate change as an issue that is psychologically distant: in time, or in space, or in its relevance to their lives. Compared to other more urgent issues requiring our attention and resources, we think, perhaps it can wait - or at least take its place in line.
I argue that this perceived conflict between acting on climate change versus addressing many of the other urgent issues that afflict the world today derives from a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of climate change. It is not a stand-alone issue; an increase in the average temperature of the planet is not our primary concern. Our concern is the cascading train of impacts that result from this warming which, in turn, affect nearly everything else that we are already concerned about today. Issues exacerbated by climate change include racism, sexism, and inequality; poverty, hunger, and lack of access to resources; economic security, international development, political stability, and even refugee crises. All of these and more have the potential to be - and many are already being - exacerbated, amplified or in some cases even tipped over the edge by climate change. Not only that, but robust, multi-faceted solutions that address climate change can also tackle many of these issues. The perception that climate action is in conflict or competition with addressing other critical issues of today is a false dichotomy that must be addressed by clearly connecting climate impacts and climate solutions with existing values and priorities. The time for climate action is now, not tomorrow; because if we don't fix it, it will fix us. But by doing so, we may begin to fix a lot of other problems as well.- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2020
- Bibcode:
- 2020AGUFMSY018..04H
- Keywords:
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- 6620 Science policy;
- POLICY SCIENCES & PUBLIC ISSUES