On the second day of Christmas...
Wed, 02 Dec 2015 11:04:00 GMT
On the second day of Christmas my true love sent to me - Two Turtle Doves. Doves are universally the symbol of peace – but how peaceful will the world be if we don’t start finding solutions to climate change?
When the media discusses climate change, the images we are normally confronted with tend to be skinny polar bears struggling to get onto fractured lumps of ice, or sad faced orangutans in devastated forests. Sometimes we see pictures of people suffering from weather extremes, such as floods or droughts. Most of the time these animals and people are in geographically distant places and while we may have sympathy for their plight, we don’t really connect. Few of us really empathize, arguably because we don’t consider the possibility that we will ever suffer personally as a result of climate change, and feel safe and sound in our European stronghold.
If we all read the UN report, Climate Change 2014:Impacts, Adaptations and Vulnerability, we make think differently! The authors conclude that climate change impacts could soon result in major strains on water and food supplies, leading to resource wars, migration and international conflict.
Professor Michael Mann, argues that “increased competition for diminishing resources among a growing global population is unfortunately a perfect prescription for increased conflict.” In a globalised, interconnected world, it would be a rare optimist who would think that their country would be immune or untouched from such threats.
We can already see how political unrest and instability in Africa and the Middle-East has impacted on us here in Europe, with the on-going migrant crisis being fuelled by conflicts in Syria and Libya. Already we can see how this poses a threat to a united, peaceful Europe. When these conditions are aggravated by resource issues, and expand into other areas of the Middle East and Africa, more people will flee to find secure and safe lives. If Europe is struggling to find solutions to the refugee crisis now, imagine how we will cope with a ten fold increase in numbers. The French President François Hollande, talking a few months ago, said that unless COP21 concluded with a successful climate agreement “it won’t be hundreds of thousands of refugees in the next 20 years, it will be millions.”
How peaceful will Europe be then?
