Climate change: A human rights issue

Metal straw? Check. Reusable bag? Check. Hydroflask? Check.

You have all the essential equipment of an environmentally conscious warrior. Yet headlines across your screens continue to report new national disasters and rising temperatures. You’ve done everything right, and yet there’s no change. It’s the system, then? Right? Systematic change will fix everything. Not exactly.

Experts, politicians and everyone in between continue to debate how to solve climate change before it’s too late. The current climate crisis is one of the largest and most difficult issues we have ever faced as a society. It’s exhausting as people are facing their own internal struggles. Yet we know we are capable of rallying together and helping the planet we all call home. The current climate crisis, although paradoxical and political in nature, is just another human rights issue, and requires a social movement for change.

It may seem like a stretch for some, but climate change directly impacts us and our neighbors. Eco-anxiety, the anxious feelings that overcome us now on a regular basis is sweeping across the world. A 2021 study found that across the globe, 59 percent of respondents were extremely worried about climate change, and reported emotions ranging from angry to sad as well as powerless and helpless. Nearly 45 percent of respondents said these worries negatively impacted their daily functioning and life as a whole.

Feelings and concerns like these are not unwarranted nor unfounded. Temperatures and ocean levels are rising.

This is nothing new. It’s a recurring sentiment when the topic of climate change is brought up in conversation. According to António Guterres, secretary-general of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in the most recent United Nations report, “[The climate crisis] is not fiction or exaggeration. It is what science tells us will result from our current energy policies. We are on a pathway to global warming of more than double the 1.5-degree (Celsius, or 2.7-degrees Fahrenheit) limit.” Climate change is no longer a distant hypothetical issue, it’s right here, right now, and is having a large effect on our psyche and health. It impacts communities small and large across the United States.

Researchers Chandrakala Ganesh and Jason A. Smith found that the San Joaquin Valley experienced the “hottest and driest years recorded” from 2012 to 2014 due to drought conditions caused by “a persistent decline in both precipitation and runoff.” As a result of this and the pumping of groundwater, the community has sunk by nearly twentyeight feet. In addition, there have been detrimental mental and physical effects on the people in San Joaquin, with an increase in hospitalizations, diseases like Valley Fever, and suicidal ideation and depression.

Consequences like these are being felt in our very own backyard, as Connecticut is experiencing the climate crisis in full force. The climate in Connecticut continues to change as “the state has warmed two to three degrees (F) in the last century,” according to a 2016-2017 EPA report. Although this may seem insignificant to some, this temperature change means more frequent seasonal changes, like intense heat and heavy precipitation. Once again, these climate changes can have large human consequences, as “changes in temperature and precipitation could increase the incidence of acute and chronic respiratory conditions such as asthma.”

The same report also mentions increased risks of contracting Lyme disease from ticks, and other possibly more dangerous diseases from insects like mosquitoes due to the higher temperatures. Simple seasonal allergies to pollen can have greater impacts when pollen season increases in duration. Fortunately for us, there have been efforts in Connecticut against climate change. The Naugatuck Valley Health District recently held a climate talk and nature walk with Kellogg Environmental Center in celebration of Nation Public Health Week. Connecticut legislators have also taken a stance by investing in combating climate change and green energy with new bills. Efforts like these will help ease the pressures of the current crisis.

Ultimately, there is no denying that climate change is here and isn’t going anywhere unless there is active involvement from everyone. It is affecting our neighbors, friends and families in explicit and implicit ways every day. Join the many legislators and citizens making active change. It’s a human rights issue, and should be addressed with the same verosity as any other social movement. We are our best advocates and protectors. When we collectively work together for one common goal, especially a goal that enriches and ensures our safety, we can do anything.