Kyra Lieberman
In Motion Staff Writer
Change is not immediate, but it is imminent.
By 2030, we must decrease our annual emissions by half to help curb the magnitude of the effects of climate change. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a consortium of scientists and leaders from around the world, used the research of more than 6,000 scientists to come to this conclusion in its 2018 special climate report published through the United Nations.
Since the Industrial Revolution of the 1800s, the Earth has warmed by 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit. The carbon dioxide from past emissions continues to rise, thinning earth’s atmosphere and making the planet warmer. Recently we have felt the effects of global warming, with severe natural disasters and intense temperatures throughout the year in many places.
At this point, it is difficult to reverse the damage already done, but we must work to prevent even more. One way is moving toward cleaner and renewable energy sources. Coal is currently used for about 40 percent of power worldwide, and the IPCC states that it must be cut down to less than 7 percent by 2050. By the same year, it says 80 percent of current emissions must be cut and the remainder should be renewable or a safer form of nuclear energy.
Seeing negative impacts is one of the greatest motivators for people, but the effects of global warming are not dramatic all at once. It takes time and it happens day-by-day as the Earth attempts to regulate itself amid the carbon dioxide pumped into the atmosphere every day for the past 200 years. Working together — and spending a lot of money to do so — without reaping the results or seeing the problem disappear is a tough idea to pitch.
By 2100, people will lose an estimated $14 trillion each year in losses and damage due to environmental factors. Working toward a solution now, rather than in the middle of a future environmental collapse, is our best chance to stop further damage to the planet.
If emissions are cut in half by 2030, we would be starting on the right track. Even President Obama’s now repealed environmental protection programs would have only cut emissions by a quarter in the same time period. If we come together on humanity’s largest crisis to date, future generations will be able to inhabit and enjoy the Earth.
To change the future, first we must change the culture. Our society is used to luxuries at all times and we want it as quickly as possible. We must work in the same vein as the businesses we want to regulate. If the corporations must reduce their carbon footprint, people will have to shift the culture of immediate gratification we live in. We will have to think about the things we do, buy and use because it may not always be unlimited — it never was.
The alternative to shifting our lifestyles a little? A planet completely unrecognizable and without need for our many modern luxuries because we will be struggling to eat and live in the once-welcoming cities of the world. Some coastal towns are already in such poor condition that longtime residents must move inland, such as in southern Louisiana. On our current trajectory, many wonder when metropolitan residents like those in New York City or San Francisco, will become victims of this “climate migration” over the coming decades.
We still have time to limit the potential effects of global warming, but the people experiencing it in the future will not have that luxury. Our actions have and always will have consequences and the time to act is now.