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  - why it matters

Global climate change - why it matters

The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) - www.ipcc.ch is the world’s leading body for the assessment of climate change. The IPCC was established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and it predicts drastic negative effects to the environment if climate change continues on its current levels. These include:

• The increase of extinction for up to 30% of the world’s natural species by 2020 with total extinction of 40% of the world’s species by 2080. This is already being called “The Sixth Extinction” referring to five previous extinction events in the history of the planet where the majority of higher life forms were completely killed off. The last and most famous major extinction event, 65 million years ago, wiped out the dinosaurs. The current ‘sixth extinction’ event is the only one caused by a biotic (i.e. human) influence as opposed to a physical (i.e. geologic or meteoric) influence. It is also the only one that could be avoided by the choices and behaviour of the dominant species - us.
• An increase of natural disasters such as floods, wildfires and storms.
• Greater mortality rates from heat waves, floods and droughts.
• Destruction of coral reefs in the world’s oceans.
• The melting of polar regions, raising sea levels by 13 to 20 feet, resulting in land masses being covered by water.
• Climate change will result in increases in hunger and death for millions on the planet as a result of changes to food production and lost fertile lands.

All reports indicate that the quantifiable cost of doing nothing to avoid climate change - in the loss of human life, biodiversity, ecological stability, arable land, infrastructure, economic activity, and destruction of property – will drastically exceed the cost of implementing the necessary changes to quickly transition to a low carbon economy. This is notwithstanding the unquantifiable ethical and spiritual costs of allowing such a thing to occur ‘on our watch.’

 

WHAT UNDERLIES CURRENT CLIMATE CHANGE TRENDS?

Climate change is caused by the build-up of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions.

In the atmosphere, carbon dioxide is produced by human activities such as industrial processing where fossil fuels are used as the energy source.

In addition, the world’s forests, which aid in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, are being destroyed at an alarming rate – some 13 million hectares per annum, over 5% of the land area of Western Australia.

To address climate change, the world community must make dramatic changes to reduce greenhouse gas emission by moving away from traditional sources of energy to more renewable and environmentally friendly sources of energy.

A commitment from governments, business and individuals is required to reverse the harmful effects of using fossil energy.