Blog Eight: Panel's Warning on Climate Risk: Worst is Yet to Come

Summary: This article talks about a report that was released on Monday, March 31 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. This panel was created by the United Nations in order to discuss climate science and current issues that are feeding into climate change. The report states that ice caps and sea ice in the Arctic are melting, water supplies are dwindling in many areas of the world, and many species of organisms are either migrating to other, more hospitable areas of the world or they are simply dying out. To add to this, oceans are rising and becoming more and more acidic due to the levels of carbon dioxide that is being absorbed, due to industry or car exhaust. The article makes a connection between these happenings and the global social problems that will result. For example, with lack of water as well as poor or toxic soil comes the inability to grow food. As we have discussed in class, when resources are in short supply, violence can certainly start making its mark on the people of the area. 

Analysis: This was a great article. We just finished talking in class about violence, and I think it’s interesting to consider how violence begins, in relation to global social problems such as the issue of climate change. I think that a lot of people tend to brush it off as being an issue, but not a “serious” issue. Climate change is definitely having an impact on every person and organism on this planet, as the article stated. In one way or another, it affects us all and as easy as it often is for us (as Americans) to say, “violence won’t happen here; it won’t affect us that badly,” it’s absurd to think that. When you no longer have clean water because it’s full of chemicals and you no longer have food because you can’t grow anything, what do you think will happen? Overall, I thought this was a good article and I highly recommend it to anyone, interested in Environmental Issues/Climate Change or not – READ THIS. (I also recommend listening to “Collapse (Post-Amerika)” by Rise Against if you’re into that sort of thing…it’s also relevant.)

Article published in the New York Times on 31 March 2014

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/01/science/earth/climate.html?action=click&module=Search&region=searchResults%230&version=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fquery.nytimes.com%2Fsearch%2Fsitesearch%2F%3Faction%3Dclick%26region%3DMasthead%26pgtype%3DHomepage%26module%3DSearchSubmit%26contentCollection%3DHomepage%26t%3Dqry860%23%2FPanel%2527s%2520warning%2520on%2520climate%2520risk%3A%2520worst%2520is%2520yet%2520to%2520come&_r=0