The Importance of Climate Change Advocacy
- Generation Now
- Dec 17, 2020
- 4 min read
By Catarina Vita
December 13, 2020
From Greta Thunberg to “climate strikes”, people of all ages have become more aware of the threats that climate change and global warming pose to present and past generations. Nonetheless, there are still people who do not believe in climate change, or believe that what is happening ecologically in the world is natural and, often, essential to human living.
It is true that the climate changes in between decades, however, climate change contemporarily is accelerating, posing infinite dangers to our present and future. Besides the obvious danger of climate change that is human extinction, climate change threatens health, economic stability, security, and hope.
The Earth’s temperature has risen 2 degrees Fahrenheit during the 1900s, and some of the consequences branching from that include flooding, droughts, intense hurricanes, and intense wildfires. It is crucial to follow science not only in politics, but in one’s everyday life; however, not everyone follows that premise. Therefore, it is pivotal to advocate for climate change: to raise awareness and spread useful information.
It is important to be an activist against climate change with a focus on intersectionality; noticing how differently climate change affects different groups of people. For instance, countries in Africa, that are generally warm for the greater part of the year, are suffering more from climate change than countries in the North. Droughts that were already existent below the Equator increased, and populations decreased. Taking these into consideration, it is also important to hold your government accountable for their promises and actions regarding climate change. Advocating against climate change is important to raise awareness about its impacts and acknowledge how it impacts different people.
Raising awareness about climate change is pivotal to our future and climate change advocacy itself. Accelerated climate change as a scientific consensus, however, is often denied. Individual denying of climate change can have a long term impact; however, climate change denial and negligence by political groups and companies can have an immediate impact on the globe.
Since politicians often make decisions that affect a specific society, politicians’ denial of climate change can make them refuse to invest their political plans against climate change. However, politicians who advocate for climate change are not always enforcing laws that fight climate change. The Paris Climate Agreement, arguably the most prominent treaty against climate change, has the participation of over 190 signatories and almost none of them are close to the clauses in it.
Greta Thunberg is leading a school strike and sits outside of the Swedish Parliament, in an effort to force politicians to act on climate change. Photograph: Michael Campanella/The Guardian
The emission of greenhouse gases by factories contributes significantly to climate change through the greenhouse effect: the Earth’s atmosphere absorbing greenhouse gases and reflecting it in the world. Doctors also play a pivotal role in the fight against climate change: public health risks increase as climate change does, and they should raise awareness about potential public health risks due to climate change. Finally, another group that plays a pivotal role in raising awareness about climate change are the advocacy groups themselves. They are often informed precisely and not influenced by external factors, such as politicians and corporations often are, so their existence helps in bringing more people into climate change activism.
The intersectionality of climate change activism is something that is often neglected, although still important to acknowledge. A study by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) shows that climate change has increased global inequality. Countries in the North, such as Sweden and Norway, arguably benefit from the warming of the globe, having more temperate land and longer growing seasons. Sweden’s population increased by 25%, while Norway’s increased by 34%. On the other hand, countries below the line of the Equator are getting warmer, intensifying their issues with drought and public health. Sudan and Nigeria, two African countries, had a population decrease of 36% and 29%, respectively. Indigenous people around the globe also suffer several negative impacts from climate change. They are directly dependent on their land and its resources, such as water and food. In the Himalayas, Indigenous people are suffering from flooding; more water during the period of drought and less in the long run. The wildfires in the Amazon rainforest, that are partially caused by climate change (other causes include deforestation), are causing droughts and posing threats to Amazonian Indigenous people.
To know about climate change is not only to know about science and research; it is also acknowledging its impacts and the necessary measures to stop it. Climate change has and will affect the whole world not only by increasing temperatures, but also through factors that are a result of it.
Public health is constantly under threat due to climate change; wildfires, caused by climate change, cause intense respiratory issues. Hurricanes intensified, alongside droughts and floods; this incites a threat to the global economy, but especially the ones from Southern countries. Therefore, it is pivotal to acknowledge the intersectionality of climate change, and how it affects different groups of people.
Droughts in Southern countries are intensifying, causing a significant drop in population. However, private entities, such as politicians and companies, often refuse to enforce or even advocate for climate change; therefore, much of their information can be misleading and biased. In this context, it is pivotal to rely on scientific facts and climate change advocacy groups.
Stay informed and inform others on climate change and its impacts, to save the present and the future.
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