Do world leaders understand the consequences of the climate crisis?
SI NCE the Industria l Revolution, we have created a hodgepodge of human systems that are at odds with natura l systems that support them. In the process, we are pushing billions of people into a dystopian future by bequeathing them with a climate crisis.
While schoolchildren worldwide are on t he streets protesting government inaction and millions are displaced by climate-induced disasters, t he la issez-fa ire att itude of our leaders, save a few, sends t he message t hat t he current upward trajector y of t he crisis does not seem to be a pressing problem.
Instead, those who resist the powerf ul t hat are savaging our ecosystems and driv ing people off t heir land face death and fear, according to t he latest annual report from Global Witness.
At various conventions and Conference of Parties (COP), discussions on climate change resemble the ta le of a group of blind men touching various parts of an elephant, each arriv ing at a ver y dif ferent conclusion of what it is like.
To one it is like a tree, to another a snake, to a t hird a wall, to t he fourt h a spear, so on and so fort h.
A wise man tells the group that an elephant has a ll t he features t hey mentioned, but they are missing the big picture.
The moral of the parable is that we have a tendency to project our partia l experiences as t he whole trut h, contrar y to what rea lit y is.
Thus, just like t he blind men, politicians and world leaders are missing the “big picture” of human-induced climate change.
Scientists have been warning since t he 1980s t hat to limit t he most damaging impacts of climate change, strong policies are needed to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
Ignoring t heir warnings, politicians a llowed greenhouse gases to build up to potentia lly dangerous levels in t he atmosphere.
The reason: most likely t heir lack of knowledge about climatolog y—a multidisciplinar y subject requiring insights from astronomy, biolog y, botany, chemistr y, cosmolog y, economics, geolog y, histor y, oceanography, palaeontolog y, physics and statistics, among ot her disciplines.
One wonders, how many of them or t heir adv isors have master y of more than one or t wo of these disciplines.
Eventually, in 1988, t he Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was formed by the United Nations Environmental Programme and World Meteorologica l Organization to play a leadership role in tack ling climate change.
That said, instead of setting t he agenda on globa l climate, IPCC has become a politica l body controlled by a few powerful nations that are a lso t he biggest emitters of greenhouse gases.
Other nations t hat claim to be v ictims of climate change, yet emit carbon diox ide in copious amounts or build coal-f ired power plants near huge carbon sinks or open up rainforests for mining, are t hird world and developing countries lack ing a government strong enough to enforce any measures.
Failing to f ind a one-size-f its-a ll solution to counter climate change has prompted IPCC to water down t he globa l climate target in t he hope of getting some sort of an agreement.
Consequently, it is no longer pushing for binding commitments to reduce emissions, whether for developed or for developing countries.
Furthermore, the widely publiincluding COP24 last year, dealt with adaptation measures only, which are needed to respond to climate change that has a lready occurred.
However, are there any plan(s) for the future when our planet might become close to uninhabitable? Can we expect an answer from the “politica l climate pundits” when they will meet in New York and Santiago (Chile) later t his year?
Clearly, because of inaction by our leaders, we will be handing over to our f uture generations a planet t hat will be close to unliveable.
As for themselves and their descendants, they would probably buy their way out of the worst effects of climate change while t he rest of us drown or choke to death.
This is “climate apartheid,” a lready practised by t he per versely wealthy and powerful.
Today, we are seemingly transitioning to a new geologic epoch, Holocene to Anthropocene, where t he climate is ver y dif ferent from the one our ancestors k new. Confronting rea lities of t he new epoch requires courage which many of our leaders lack.
Also, t heir myopic v ision does not a llow them to think beyond the next election. In fact, a group ca lled Extinction Rebellion claims t hat t heir fa ilure in addressing t he climate crisis makes them guilt y of “criminal inactiv it y”.
It is, t herefore, obvious t hat to keep our planet inhabitable, we need leaders with fortitude, wisdom and acumen, leaders who are not beholden to “corporations financing t he injustice of climate change”, and more importantly leaders with v ision to guide us through what, by a ll accounts, will be some challenging decades ahead.
Suf f ice it to say, should we fa lter in dea ling wit h t he cha l lenges of climate cha nge head-on, not only wil l t he universa l goa l of peace a nd happiness for humankind slip out of our g rasp, but man’s st r uggle for mere sur v iva l wil l a lso be jeopa rdised.