The most recent report from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that made it clear that ‘rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society’
is needed to address climate change was underlined by Brian in
presentations to Edmund Rice Network gatherings in Melbourne, Perth and
Brisbane during his Australian visit.
The scientific evidence is beyond dispute. Climate change is happening
now and the effects will be severe, pervasive and irreversible with
rising sea levels and food shortages caused by reduced harvests
threatening to displace millions more people with a corresponding impact
on global security, ocean acidification threatening ecosystems, a
greater spread of tropical diseases, more deaths from extreme weather
events and a greatly accelerated rate of species extinction.
The pledges made by all countries as part of the Paris (COP21) agreement
to limit the global temp rise to 2C above pre-industrial levels (let
alone the recommended 1.5C ) are now seen to be woefully inadequate, and
in many cases are unlikely to be achieved anyway. The next two years
are crucial. At the recent COP24 meeting in Poland, nations pledged to
submit revised targets by 2020 and report on progress towards those
targets every two years. It is time to urge our leaders to seriously
address the issue and honour the commitments they have made with actions
not just words.
Given that it is young people who will have to live with the
consequences of inaction in facing up to climate change, it is not
surprising that young people are becoming increasingly active around the
issue, with the ‘strike’ action initiated by Swedish schoolgirl Greta Thunberg being taken up by students around the world.
Click here to view her address to the COP24 meeting in Poland.
Another day of global student strike action is planned for Friday March 15th.