(8 Aug 2019) Two authors of a landmark U.N. report on the relationship between climate change and land say the science behind global warming is “scary” and warned that food insecurity is a growing problem.
Koko Warner, who contributed to a chapter on risk management and decision-making in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, said she had lost a lot of sleep about what the science is saying and urgent action needs to be taken.
She and two other experts on climate and conservation spoke to the Associated Press after the U.N. backed IPCC released the report at the World Meteorological Organisation’s headquarters in Geneva.
The special report, written by more than 100 scientists and unanimously approved by diplomats from nations around the world, made further warnings about the issue of global warming.
It also laid out actions that governments, farmers, and the general public can take to help battle climate change.
The scientists said if people change the way they eat and grow food it could help save the planet from a far warmer future.
Cynthia Rosenzweig, who contributed to chapter of the IPCC report on food security, said climate change is already impacting food security and extreme weather events caused by climate change are also affecting the supply chain of our food.
Earth’s land masses are warming twice as fast as the planet as a whole.
While heat-trapping gases are causing problems in the atmosphere, the land has been less talked about as part of climate change.
Global Policy Manager for WWF’s Climate and Energy Practice Fernanda Carvalho said the report touched on “everything” with regard to land and climate change, though she said the conservation group would have liked to see more of a focus on biodiversity.
We are facing an emergency resulting from our toxic economic and political system. The way we relate to each other and to nature is destroying Earth’s capacity to sustain life.
Unending economic growth and profits drawn from a planet with limited resources is causing gross inequality, poverty, mass misery, and species extinction.
We are sold an illusion that consumption will bring purpose and happiness into our lives, yet this systemic consumption is threatening our very existence. It is based on unjust and unethical land use and ownership, unsustainable and increasing amounts of debt and enslavement of individuals.
Power and money is concentrated in the hands of the few, while the masses struggle to simply survive. It is causing climate breakdown and biodiversity collapse.
As Greta Thunberg has been saying since the ‘Declaration of Rebellion’ last October 31:
‘We can no longer save the world by playing by the rules. Because the rules have to be changed. Everything needs to change. And it has to start today.”
So, everyone out there, it is now time for civil disobedience. It is time to rebel.
