Living amidst climate collapse

Apr 30, 2019

For decades, world leaders have stalled addressing the enormous threat posed by global warming. It has now been over 30 years since humanity has experienced a colder than average month. The last four years were the four hottest years on record. Humanity’s emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases continue to increase, reaching the highest level ever in 2018. We are on the brink of the collapse of our climate and society as we know it, and we need a global movement to immediately change course to ensure a livable and just future.

The climate collapse induced by global warming is already underway. Human activity has over-saturated the atmosphere with greenhouse gases, causing the planet to warm at an increasingly accelerating rate. Rapid warming has shaken the earth’s ecological systems. This collapse already threatens our very existence, and it is only poised to speed up.

Extreme Weather

All around us, the effects of climate collapse are negatively impacting millions of people. With just 1°C of average global temperature rise, the frequency and intensity of weather disasters such as wildfires, hurricanes, flooding, and droughts have increased dramatically. Record-breaking temperatures and ever more extreme weather events have become the new norm.

From the deadly wildfires which have ravaged California, to the recent flooding across the South and Midwest, to Hurricanes Michael, Florence, Harvey, Irma, and Maria, in just the last few years Americans have suffered unprecedented losses of life and billions of dollars in damages from extreme weather events. Hundreds of thousands have had their homes damaged or destroyed, and millions have been forced to go without electricity.

Globally, in just the last few months unprecedented flooding has battered countries from Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi to Australia and Iran, destroying millions of peoples’ homes and damaging billions of dollars’ worth of vital agricultural resources. According to the United Nations, at least 210 million people have already been displaced by such climate disasters, and an average of 60,000 people continue to be displaced every single day. Nearly 1,000 children are dying every day due to the ongoing climate collapse.

Rising to the Challenge

While climate collapse is a global problem and will require global solutions, Americans have a special responsibility to redress this issue. Historically, no nation has produced more greenhouse gas emissions than the United States; and currently, no institution emits more greenhouse gases than the United States’ Military. And with the rise of fracking over the last decade, the United States has now become the world’s largest producer of petroleum.

With the federal government’s withdrawal from the Paris Climate Treaty, neither government, military, nor industry has committed to making the changes necessary to avert even 2°C of warming. To understand the gravity of this failure, we must recognize that we are risking not just a future doubling of the increased intensity and severity of extreme weather events, but something even worse. Even 2°C of warming is expected to cause many island nations and coastal communities to become completely submerged by rising sea levels. Representatives from these communities have thus charged that a policy of climate denial is a policy of genocide.

But as this country’s most powerful institutions continue to fail us and the planet, we cannot let that stop us from doing what is necessary to reverse course. By taking action collectively to rapidly decarbonize the United States, we can play a pivotal role in the global climate movement. In rising to the challenge of cutting emissions, sequestering carbon dioxide, and fighting the power of unjust and environmentally destructive industries, we can leave a lasting legacy in the history of the United States and the world.

Mass Extinction

If we fail to act now, scientists are warning that the situation will quickly get much worse, as the process of climate collapse itself is nonlinear and increasingly accelerating. We are already seeing multiple positive feedback loops beginning to activate. The melting of massive quantities of ice decreases the amount of sunlight reflected away from the Earth, increasing the rate of heat absorption. Meanwhile, the Arctic permafrost, which stores more than twice as much carbon, nitrous oxide, and methane as is currently in the atmosphere today, is beginning to thaw and release these greenhouse gases. In other words, as the planet heats up, new sources of greenhouse gas emissions are further accelerating the collapse. These are just two of at least a dozen positive feedback mechanisms in the Earth’s climate system, so once a certain threshold or tipping point is crossed, even a complete freeze on emissions would not prevent the kind of runaway global warming which could wipe out more than 90% of all species on Earth.

A growing body of science shows that this sixth mass extinction is already underway, as the current extinction rate is approximately 1000x the natural background rate due to human destruction. The main questions which remain are how severe will this mass extinction be, and whether we ourselves will survive. In the last half-century, approximately half of all animal and plant life has been killed due to human actions. Even if this destruction were to stop now, it would take at least five million years for the natural world to recover. Our survival as a species is highly dependent upon the natural world. We rely on rapidly declining pollinator species such as butterflies and bees to pollinate our food crops, not to mention the health of rapidly declining soil ecosystems to grow our crops in the first place.

The survival of human life on this planet cannot be taken for granted. If we do not recognize the scope and severity of the climate collapse underway and take all necessary actions to reverse course immediately, humanity itself will collapse. Only unprecedented and bold collective action will enable us to rise to the enormity of the challenge we face today.

WORKS CITED:

Global temperatures have been above average for 406 months in a row, ThinkProgress

U.N. says 2018 will be Earth’s 4th-warmest year on record, predicts a 5- to 9-degree temperature rise this century, USA Today

‘Brutal news’: global carbon emissions jump to all-time high in 2018, The Guardian

Fires, droughts, and hurricanes: what’s the link between climate change and natural disasters?, LA Times

UPDATED: The ‘new abnormal’ — California megafires explode with off-the-charts fury, The National Observer

Climate change is making hurricanes even more destructive, research finds, The Guardian

Hurricane Michael: A record-breaking storm, News Press

Hurricane Harvey Broke Multiple Weather Records, Mental Floss

Three Months After Maria, Roughly Half of Puerto Ricans Still Without Power, The New York Times

Irma, the strongest Atlantic hurricane in history, tears through the Caribbean, Grist

Irma and Harvey should kill any doubt that climate change is real, The Washington Post