Climate Change: an Existential Crisis
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The climate has been very much in our news recently; fires around the arctic circle, floods in the Ottawa area, heat waves all over the world and the spread of Lyme disease in Ontario and Quebec. These are all indications that Climate Change is not a future issue, it is with us now and it is going to get progressively worse in years to come. It is fortunate that the U.N has put together a scientific body, the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to bring together researchers to provide the best understanding of the issue and to provide predictions for the future. It is clear from the work of the IPCC that the earth is warming with increasing rapidity, and these temperature increases are caused by human activity. The IPCC projections for the future show that the world is threatened by Climate Change and to save ourselves untold misery we need to take action as soon as possible to limit the impact climate change is having on our environment.
Canadians are particularly impacted by global warming as temperatures in Canada are rising at twice the world average rate. It is also noticeable that Canadians have one of the highest per capita emissions of Green House Gases (GHG) which are the cause of global warming. It is very important that Canadians do their part to reduce GHG production both to limit total world emissions and to provide an example of how GHG emissions can be reduced. There are many things individuals can do, such as reducing energy use, limiting meat consumption and ethical investing. However individual actions on their own will not be sufficient, it will take action by governments with their powers of taxation and regulation to get the job done. It is for this reason that I urge Canadians to lobby politicians of all parties and at all levels to have policy goals to reduce Green House Gas emissions to net-zero by 2050. If politicians hear that Climate Change is the number one issue for the majority of people in the country, it will make a difference in the policies that are put in place.
Presentations on Climate Change. Link to Presentation Page
Items of interest:-
May 2019: How climate change works, TVO interview with Kate Marvel, associate research scientist at Columbia University and at NASAs Goddard Institute for Space Studies: |
Email: oakham [at] physics.carleton.ca
Last update 22/01/2024