Fight for survival on Earth

Only the ignorant and the greedy continue to deny that there is a global crisis caused by climate change. The planet Earth will survive as it has survived climactic crisis in the past like the Ice Age. It is human civilization that is endangered.

One consequence of climate change that will have a terrible effect on islands and archipelagic nations like the Philippines is the phenomenon of rising seas. Coastal cities are all in danger of permanently disappearing under the increasing sea levels. Indonesia has already decided to move its capital to Borneo because Jakarta faces the crisis in the form of sea levels.

Most people are still ignorant about this crisis. It is fortunate that we have a 16 year old climate activist – Greta Thurnberg – who has become the symbol for a global movement to force  political and business leaders to seek immediate and radical solutions to the climate crisis. She just gave a moving, highly emotional speech at the United Nations. It was addressed to the world’s leaders. Here is her complete speech:

“This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you!

You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I’m one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of mass extinction, and all you can talk  about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!

You say you hear us and you  understand the urgency. But no matter how sad and angry I am, I do not want to believe that. Because if you really understand the situation and still kept on failing to act, then you would be evil. And that I refuse to believe.

The popular idea of cutting our emissions in half in 10 years only gives us a 50% chance of staying below 1.5 degrees [Celsius], and the risk of setting off irreversible chain reactions beyond human control.

Fifty percent may be acceptable to you. But those numbers do not include tipping points, most feedback loops, additional warming hidden by toxic air pollution or the aspects of equity and climate justice. They also rely on my generation sucking hundreds of billions of tons of your CO2 out of the air with technologies that barely exist.

So a 50% risk is simply not acceptable to us – we who have to live with the consequences.

To have a 67% chance of staying below a 1.5 degrees global temperature rise –the best odds given by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – the world had 420 gigatons of CO2 left to emit back on Jan. 1, 2018. Today that figure is already down to less than 350 gigatons.

How dare you pretend that this can be solved with just ‘business as usual’ and some technical solutions? With today’s emissions levels, that remaining CO2 budget will be entirely gone within less than 8 1/2 years.

There will not be any solutions or plans presented in line with these figures here today, because these numbers are too uncomfortable. And you are still not mature enough to tell it like it is.

You are failing us. But the young people are beginning to understand  your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say: We will never forgive you.

We will not let you get away with this. Right here, right now is where we draw the line. The world is waking up. And change is coming whether you like it or not.”

Climate change road map

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an intergovernmental body of the UN dedicated to providing the world with an objective, scientific view of climate change, its natural, political and economic impacts and risks, and possible response options.

Last year, the panel produced a 30-year road map on tackling climate change. Here is a summary of their proposals:

• Phase out natural gas and eliminate coal. Natural gas use needs to decline by at least 13% and as much as 62% by 2050; coal needs to disappear as electricity source by 2050.

• Grow renewable. Renewables like wind and solar need to make up at least 59% and as much as 97% of total electricity by 2050.

• Nuclear. Nuclear could provide as much as 28% of electricity by 2050 or as little as 1% depending whether the zero carbon electricity it provides is worth the challenges of nuclear waste and other risks.

• Remove carbon from the atmosphere. Humans have emitted so much CO2  that we’ll likely need to take some out of the atmosphere to meet the targets.

• Change our agriculture and support trees. Global forest area cannot shrink by more than 2 million sq. km. And may need to be increased by as much  as 9.5 million sq. km.; that means changing what we eat so we need less land for agriculture.

• Make our energy use more efficient. Greater efficiency – everything from better light bulbs to cars with better mileage -- would help reduce the need for investment in new energy sources by as much as 50%.

Creative writing classes for kids and teens

Adult class on writing poetry with Gemino Abad on Sept. 28, 1:30-4:30 pm. At Fully Booked BGC.  For details and registration,  email [email protected].

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Email: [email protected]