Tuesday, March 31, 2020

What are scholars saying?


(Woodward, 2020).

The picture above is from an inspiring Business Insider article from January 3rd, 2020 about climate change activist Greta Thunberg; her impact on the climate strikes from school and how she has inspired the mobilization of young people around the globe to strike for their right to a clean world. Link to article: https://www.businessinsider.com/greta-thunberg-bio-climate-change-activist-2019-9



Scholars weighing in: 


The Facts - Arctic Region and Climate Change: Abbi Stepp 

In this journal titled, “What we know, do not know, and need to know about climate change vulnerability in the western Canadian Arctic:
a systematic literature review” by James D Ford and Tristan Pearce we review the scientific publications of literature to, “identify and characterize the nature of climate change vulnerability in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region of the western Canadian Arctic and identify gaps in understanding,” (Ford, Pearce, 2010). To further summate the article from its full length I have included only the most pertinent information presented by the authors here. In the introduction we learn that, “Canada’s Arctic is at the forefront of our changing climate… temperature increases in excess of 2C documented in some regions over the last 50 years.” (Ford, Pearce, 2010). It is then explained that this rise in temperature has direct implications on the tribes of the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, or ISR for short. They mostly reside in small remote settlements in the Northwest Territories, their livelihoods dependent on the harvesting of fish and wildlife. This set up means that they have been exceptionally affected by climate change. It is then said that the Inuit organizations have been expressing their concern about the rapid change in climate to their local communities and governments. Our authors then take us into the main issue at hand - what do we do now? “To initiate adaptation actions, decision makers need to know the nature of vulnerability in terms of who and what are vulnerable, to what stresses, and in what way, and also what is the capacity of human systems to adapt to changing conditions.” (Ford, Pearce, 2010). This journal exposed a pattern: most research conducted in the ISR has been purely for documentation of data on climate change and has yielded no changed in human conduct to aid the indigenous people of the arctic. They are especially vulnerable to climate change, although the adaptive capacity to life once climate change has mutated the land being high, the changing landscape poses a threat to the culture. They are reliant on the seal, the wale, caribou, and musk-ox for food, clothing, and their culture. Once the region is irreparably changed because of climate change, the animals scare, the culture of these peoples can almost certainly be expected to be different in some ways. The authors touch on their adaptability being so high because of their ability to store foods and manage traditions, “when hunting areas are not accessible, altered timing, mode and methods of subsistence activities, the establishment of community evacuation and preparedness plans in case of extreme events, the development of new ice-based transportation routes to avoid dangerous areas, the strengthening of municipal infrastructure to cope with altered climatic extremes, the development of youth–elder mentoring programs to transmit traditional knowledge on environmental risks, and increasing use of community freezers to store and make accessible traditional foods.” (Ford, Pearce, 2010). The way I understand it is: the people of the ISR would survive, yes, but at the cost of a drastic and irreversible change to their home. 
Link to article: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/5/1/014008/meta


Politics & Laws: Jake Vaught 

In the article titled, “Climate Change” by Nature Outlook magazine, written by Richard Hodson, the laws and politics surrounding climate change issue is talked about. With the numerous countries governments, officials, companies and industries deeply involved in the issue of climate change it is extremely difficult to create a system of change that is satisfactory to each individual member of these various organizations. However, just at the very beginning of the article states, “The scientific community is united in the view, informed by a body of evidence amassed over more than 50 years, that climate change caused by human activity poses a considerable threat to life on Earth.” (Hodson, 2017). One of the political motions towards creating a systemic change in the world was the Paris Climate agreement that, in 2015, 194 countries signed. This is a good feat and tells us that international politicians are also now in agreement with scientists that climate change is a real threat to the world and that there must be action against it. In this article the detrimental effects of climate change are discussed – ocean acidification from rising carbon dioxide emissions – this is known, yet the effect that it will have on marine life is as of yet, unknown. (Hodson, 2017). The debate of what to do about climate change is ongoing and has many, many moving parts. As stated in the article, “Most agree that it is necessary to capture carbon emissions at the source — power plants, for example — but plans to suck carbon dioxide directly from the air attract less support. What happens to the captured carbon is also contentious: some researchers would like to put it to use, whereas others prioritize its long-term storage.” (Hodson, 2017). Frustration has come from the lack of action and the speed at which this issue is being treated. As of now, no real laws have been passed to limit the amount of carbon dioxide in the world, but public support is still congregating. 


The Movement for Change: Remington Vaccaro

With the massive increase in society and political officials support of climate change laws being implemented the question is continually being asked; why is nothing happening? What are we doing to combat this issue? Why have no laws or action been taken? Citizens around the globe have increasingly become unable to rest on this issue and have begun a movement to draw awareness and create change in the government. For the article titled, “Thousands of scientists
back kids’ climate strike: Researchers the world over sign statements supporting school walkout” by Matthew Warren outlines the drastic social movement that has swept the United States and many other nations around the world. The youth of the world banded together on March 15th, 2019 to stage mass walk outs of school in strike to, “demand that adults do more to combat climate change.” (Warren, 2019). Around the globe schoolchildren walked out of school, it is stated within the article that this occurred in 2000 cities in more than 120 countries. Their anger and action were met with both praise and disapproval by the older generations. Some politicians objected to this idea. However, as is the main purpose of this article, thousands of scientists worldwide have shown their support in the movement. (Warren, 2019). There are two quotes within this article that I found to be amazingly inspiring and informative. One is from the Ummi Hoque, an 18 year old student from London, who herself joined a strike that was estimated to be 20,000 people. She says she hopes that the strikes will dispel stereotypes that young people are lazy, and encourage governments to make climate change — which will have its worst effects on future generations — their top priority. (Warren, 2019).  Another that follows Ummi’s story is from Gail Whiteman, a social scientist at Lancaster University, UK, who says, “The idea of a climate strike is innovative. It’s provocative, and I think it’s the right form of non-violent civil disobedience.” (Warren, 2019). The majority of the protesters who attended these strikes around the globe say that they were inspired to fight for their future by teen climate activist Greta Thunberg, pictured at the beginning of this post. Social change for the good is something that has been happening for years and it now seems that it is the youth of the world’s turn to make their difference for the betterment of the world. 

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