Monday marked the 56th edition of a report from the top scientists around the world on the fate of the planet’s temperature trends, and the future for those who live here.
The 3,600-page documentFrom the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Changewasthe work of 278scientistsfrom 65 countries over five years. Their main goal was not to tell earthly residents how climate change is real (the IPCC’s latest version of).This reportwas released last August), nor to outline the impacts of a warming, erratic environment on humans and nature (the IPCC).latest effortThe February issue of this topic was published.
This new unified global textbookreport focuses on what needs to be done now in order to reduce the impacts that will occur. NotAll people living in different countries, continents, and communities will experience the same thing.
Monday also marked the 54thanniversaryof the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr., who pushed passionatelyfor basic equality in humanopportunitythroughout his too-short life.
Many have issued similar appeals to climate impacts in the half century since King was assassinated. This movement has become known as Environmental justice. The IPCC has warned of climate change’s violent injustices and the need to address them through 56 different detailed reports. ReportsSince 1990.
More information about the latest IPCC Report:Climate experts agree that the world is at a crossroads but offer hope through concrete actions
Environmental Justice
The environmental justice MovementThis date back to the 1980s, when communities began to notice and speak out about higher levels of contamination in regions inhabited predominantly by minorities or lower-income groups. Landfills, oil refineries,manufacturing plants and projects that later became toxic waste sites were located and still are disproportionately in these neighborhoods.
This exposure is often associated with higher rates of lung disease, cancer, and other illnesses in these populations. Accessibility restrictionsto health careoptions. The practice of zoning towns inhabited mainly by minorities for hazardous activities is also known as environmental racism.
Today, the problem is still very real. Take a look at the people most affected by the problem. Flint, Michigan water crisisThe predominance polluting coal plants dominates Chicago’s south sideThe rates of illness along the Louisiana petrochemical corridor are known as Cancer Alley. King would be furious.
Celebrate MLK DayJesse Jackson visits Memphis in commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr.’s passing
Since its publication, the IPCC has been raising alarm about the global consequences of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. First report1990. However, it received criticism from marginalized groups that the full range of environmental injustices resulting from climate change have not yet been adequately addressed.
The IPCC makes a stand
This has changed in the IPCC’s latest reports. Although there is still much to be done, Monday’s release and the two that preceded it are a step in the right direction.The sixth assessment cycleThe environmental justice movement received them more positively than the previous versions.
Debra Krol reported in The Arizona Republic that the February IPCC report on vulnerabilities and impacts around the globe “found that Indigenous peoplesare particularly affected by the rapidly changing climate.” Due to climate change’s drying effects, Arizona tribes of the Navajo Nation have experienced increased hardships in accessing water and livestock feed as well as growing food.
More local reporting“They’re finally paying attention”: New climate report highlights major role of Indigenous Peoples
The sixth cycle of the IPCC’s reports, which included Monday’s release, acknowledged these unequal impacts in a manner they had not done before. It also highlighted the role of colonialism, racism, and other policies in the uneven distributions of climate consequences today. It also made an effort to incorporate local knowledge and concerns from marginalized communities, although some still hold their applause, stating that “we should have been there a long while ago.”
The IPCC report, released Monday, is all about where we stand. now,What we do next.
The ReportIt emphasizes the need to have “broad and meaningful participation by all relevant actors in decision making at all scales.”
This global focus was evident in Inger Anderson’s response to a question by TheRepublic about the most relevant findings for desert communities like Arizona, which were asked Monday at Monday’s news conference.
Anderson stated, “At some point 50% of the population will likely be living in scarcity, so this is absolutely a problem.” Anderson added. “I would make a distinction between poorer regions like the Sahara and wealthier areas like Arizona. I would live as if there was no scarcity. It is important to have policies that are both transparent and stick. This is where we see the needle moving the fastest.
Getting specific
The latest IPCC ReportConclusion“The 10% households with the highest per-capita greenhouse gasemissions contribute adisproportionately large amount to global household greenhouse gasemissions.”
2019 per capita greenhouse gases emissions CalculatedThe U.S. is the country with the greatest warming effects, however, it is not felt here.
Scientists have noted that the greatest action will have to come from the same source as the greatest emissions.
Diana rgevorsatz (vice-chair of the group and a professorof Environmental Sciences and Policy, Central European University) stated that “wealthier individuals have the highest potential to reduces, as consumers, investors, role models, and professionals.”
Kevin Gurney, Arizona’s sole author on the IPCC report, and a professor at Northern Arizona University said that the greatest progress will be made in cities.
Gurney wrote Monday, in response to emailed questions, that the WGIII report is “the most important element when thinking about local communities is the outsized contribution urban areas play in both emissions and solutions.” “Cities are both big emitters and also centres of innovation. These connections must be recognized and tapped by those working to reduce climate change emissions.
More:To solve problems, science needs data. Climate change is making it more difficult
Jim Skea, report co-chairanda professorofsustainable energy at Imperial College London, notedMonday that there is already some evidence of changes implemented by big emitterspaying dividends.
Skea stated, “The average annual growth rate in global emissions is slowing in the last decade.” He said that it has fallen from 2.1% per year in early century to 1.3% per year between 2010-2019.
While the trend in emission is not moving in the right directions, it is moving less quickly than the wrong one.
Martin Luther King Jr., human rights activist, is often quoted. Having said thatDuring a 1968 sermon on nonviolent protestJust daysThat was before his violent assassination
“We will prevail because the arc is moral universe long but bends towards justice.”
Even if the very long arc of Earth’s climate history eventually does bendtowardenvironmental justice, the new IPCC report laysout clearly whyeach and every person mustputtheir full privilege-dependent-weight behind bending it faster.
A consensus was reached between civil rights leaders and top scientists.
Joan Meiners is The Arizona Republic’s Climate News and Storytelling Reporter. Before she became a journalist, she earned a Ph.D. FollowJoanon Twitter @beecycles or email her at [email protected].
