ACT BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE

Climate change is a threat that the world cannot ignore.

Climate change scenario projections for what humanity will have to overcome in the coming decades and centuries are daunting.

Different scenario projections are used because there are many unknowns; for example, what will the global population be in the coming decades, how will economic growth occur, how energy intensive will that growth be, what new technologies will be available, and the question as to if governments will properly price carbon.

One scenario is a business-as-usual scenario: this is called the A1 scenario by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and is the scenario most closely aligned with how Canada has interacted with this problem to date.

The projected average surface temperature rise for 2100 under the A1 scenario is 4 degrees (with a range of 2.4 to 6.4 degrees).

The people who will suffer the most will live in the tropics and sub-tropics. They will suffer from various extreme weather events, including drought that will decrease crop yields and therefore increase the price of food staples.

Malnutrition, hunger, increased susceptibility to disease and an increased mortality rates will be the result. Particularly for children under the age of 5.

We have to act now to prevent these deaths. We need to elect a government that is willing to legislate climate change policy, price carbon, and will walk into the UNFCCC talks in Paris this December offering solidarity with the world’s poorest people.

Two weeks ago a young Syrian boy named Aylan Kurdi drowned off of a Turkish beach. Both donations and our ethical consciousness have risen as a result – there is a humanitarian crisis before our eyes and we know that whatever we can donate will help.

Let’s not wait for another horrible image to finally galvanize our actions concerning climate change

BRENDAN ELLIOTT ABERDEEN AVE.