Understanding climate change and ecological breakdown
Science
Current global warming is human-caused and the result of the excessive burning of fossil fuels - oil, natural gas, and coal, which accelerated during the industrial revolution. An enormous amount of energy and resources are required to sustain our current growth-based economic system. As a result, humanity is extracting resources faster than Earth can safely regenerate and pushing global warming to dangerous levels.
As global warming worsens, we will continue to experience more intense and frequent floods, droughts, heat domes, crop failures, extreme weather events, declining availability of clean drinking water, and more conditions that threaten the health, safety and survival of animals, plants, ecosystems, and humans.
The goal of the Paris Climate agreement is to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees C since pre industrial levels. We are currently at 1.4-1.5 degrees of warming, and research shows that global warming is accelerating. Current warming is between .42-.48 degrees C every decade.
Ecological destruction
Climate change and global warming is only part of the problem. Ecological breakdown, caused by the pollution and destruction of ecosystems around the globe, is also putting humanity at risk.
Ecological breakdown is driven by many interconnected factors, including climate change, invasive species, pollution, and land-use changes that destroy ecosystems and reduce the planet's ability to regulate climate, store carbon, and support life.
Inequity
Global warming is putting the rights and safety of children, women, low-income communities, and other vulnerable populations and nations at increased risk.
While communities and nations who did the least to cause climate change are suffering first and worst, people and nations who consumed the most and burned the most have the resources and capacity to easily relocate to cooler, more habitable areas and protect themselves from worsening climate disasters.
Economy
By 2050, climate damages from extreme weather events, rising temperatures, and ecosystem disruption are projected to cost the global economy trillions of dollars annually. The cost of living will continue to rise as crops increasingly fail, pushing up food prices, and insurance rates rise in response to worsening wildfires and flooding.
Solutions
Global warming/Climate change
Voting for politicians who recognize and act on climate science is imperative, along with holding current decision makers accountable for climate inaction.
Transitioning to renewable sources of energy like solar, wind, geothermal, battery, and tidal power. This includes installing heat pumps and solar panels and demanding that our town, state, and federal reps rapidly transition the grid away from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources that don't harm the biosphere.
Until we fully transition to renewable energy, we must reduce unnecessary production and consumption, decrease reliance on fossil fuel-powered transportation, and transition to cleaner heating and cooling technologies like heat pumps and geothermal energy.
Rely on the courts to hold government representatives and businesses that continue to harm the environment accountable.
Ecological breakdown
Demand that our representatives pass policies that restrict the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides
Protect at least 30-50% of land and ocean areas in their natural state.
Some academics and scientists say humanity needs to transition to a regenerative, circular economy that relies on fixing products and reusing materials instead of continuing to extract more than earth can safely regenerate.
Rethinking the belief that humans exist above or separate from the natural world is essential. The health of humans depends on the health of plants, animals, ecosystems, land, air, and water that sustain life.
Preparing for an uncertain future
History shows that civilizations become destabilized when environmental systems are harmed and degraded. While the future remains uncertain, building resilient local communities, food systems, and energy systems can help communities adapt to increasing climate-related challenges and disasters.
