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Earth Hour, March 28th 2009, 8:30 pm
Saturday, March 21, 2009 | 
Posted by
Oxfam Action Corps NYC |
by Anne-Marine Boubennec-Lenzotti, Oxfam Action Corps NYC
Global warming and its impacts are currently one of the most important threats facing our planet and our society. It is real! According to data from The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the global surface temperature has increased by about 1.2 to 1.4ºF in the last 100 years, and there is a scientific consensus that this increase is primarily induced by the human activities generating greenhouse gases in the atmosphere since the middle of the twentieth century.
On March 28th, 2009, in being part of the Earth Hour movement, we have an occasion to make our voice heard by our political leaders and to show them that we care about climate change. It is simple! It just consists of turning off our lights at 8:30 pm local time for one hour. Created by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), this movement is symbolic and it aims to raise awareness about Global Warming. This year, the action will be used as a global vote which will be presented to world leaders at the United Nation Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, in December 2009. The goal of this conference will be to create new commitments after the expiration of the Kyoto Protocol in 2012, in order to fight Global Warming. You can sign up for the Earth Hour movement at http://www.earthhour.org/.
The effects of Global Warming on climate are diverse. For example the frequency and severity of extreme weather events, like drought and floods, are increasing. Sea levels are rising and subtropical desert regions are expending. The consequences on agriculture, water resources and human health are dramatic. It induces damage to crops, increase of fire danger, decrease of water resources, contamination of water supply, increase risk of heat-related mortality, increase water- and food-borne diseases, increase of allergies, increase in deaths by drowning in floods, increase in world hunger, etc.
Everyone is responsible and everyone will be impacted by the effects -- but not equally. There is a huge contrast between industrialized nations and poorer developing countries in greenhouse emissions while the developing countries are, and will continue to be, affected the most. For example, per capita emissions of carbon in the U.S. are over 20 times higher than India. And according to the Germanwatch organization, between 1998 and 2007 the most affected nations were Honduras, Bangladesh, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Vietnam, India, Mozambique, Venezuela and Philippines.
Let’s take the concrete example of Bangladesh. According to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Bangladesh is the most vulnerable country in the world to tropical cyclones and the sixth most vulnerable county to floods. On average, this country is affected every 3 year by a severe tropical cyclone and it is common that, during the monsoon season, approximately one quarter of the country is inundated. People have adapted to these conditions. But these climatic phenomena are sometimes amplified, and it is difficult for the population to predict them. Sometimes Bangladesh has to face severe floods that may cover over 60% of the country. The consequences are dramatic for the population and the livelihood. A lot of people die and many thousands of people are displaced from their home. Also a lot of infrastructure and crops are damaged. These severe floods will likely become more frequent and intense in coming years due to Global Warming. Bangladesh also has to face the rising of the sea level. Some scientists think that if greenhouse emissions do not decrease, sea levels could rise more than three feet, and 15% of Bangladesh could be submerged. Where will these millions of people go? What will they drink once fresh water supplies will be contaminated by salt water? How many people will be affected by water-borne diseases and how will they overcome them?
It is urgent to take action. It is urgent to include in the countries’ policies measures to decrease our greenhouse emissions in order to protect our ecosystems, as well as to address climate justice and equity. Each of us can also act every day as a responsible citizen. We have to become more conscious about the energy we use every day and the impacts this could have for us, the others and the future generations. We can change some of our habits. Some simple actions and gestures will not change our life comfort but will have a positive impact on our environment and our wallets will appreciate it as well! The Environmental Protection Agency put online some advice of what we can do at home to save energy and fight Global Warming: http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/wycd/home.html.
References:
http://www.epa.gov/climatechange
http://www.globalissues.org/article/233/climate-change-and-global-warming-introduction
http://www.moef.gov.bd/moef.pdf
Oxfam Action Corps NYC encourages readers also to write their U.S. representatives and senators to ask them to support funding for international adaptation to climate change.
Global warming and its impacts are currently one of the most important threats facing our planet and our society. It is real! According to data from The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the global surface temperature has increased by about 1.2 to 1.4ºF in the last 100 years, and there is a scientific consensus that this increase is primarily induced by the human activities generating greenhouse gases in the atmosphere since the middle of the twentieth century.
On March 28th, 2009, in being part of the Earth Hour movement, we have an occasion to make our voice heard by our political leaders and to show them that we care about climate change. It is simple! It just consists of turning off our lights at 8:30 pm local time for one hour. Created by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), this movement is symbolic and it aims to raise awareness about Global Warming. This year, the action will be used as a global vote which will be presented to world leaders at the United Nation Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, in December 2009. The goal of this conference will be to create new commitments after the expiration of the Kyoto Protocol in 2012, in order to fight Global Warming. You can sign up for the Earth Hour movement at http://www.earthhour.org/.
The effects of Global Warming on climate are diverse. For example the frequency and severity of extreme weather events, like drought and floods, are increasing. Sea levels are rising and subtropical desert regions are expending. The consequences on agriculture, water resources and human health are dramatic. It induces damage to crops, increase of fire danger, decrease of water resources, contamination of water supply, increase risk of heat-related mortality, increase water- and food-borne diseases, increase of allergies, increase in deaths by drowning in floods, increase in world hunger, etc.
Everyone is responsible and everyone will be impacted by the effects -- but not equally. There is a huge contrast between industrialized nations and poorer developing countries in greenhouse emissions while the developing countries are, and will continue to be, affected the most. For example, per capita emissions of carbon in the U.S. are over 20 times higher than India. And according to the Germanwatch organization, between 1998 and 2007 the most affected nations were Honduras, Bangladesh, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Vietnam, India, Mozambique, Venezuela and Philippines.
Let’s take the concrete example of Bangladesh. According to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Bangladesh is the most vulnerable country in the world to tropical cyclones and the sixth most vulnerable county to floods. On average, this country is affected every 3 year by a severe tropical cyclone and it is common that, during the monsoon season, approximately one quarter of the country is inundated. People have adapted to these conditions. But these climatic phenomena are sometimes amplified, and it is difficult for the population to predict them. Sometimes Bangladesh has to face severe floods that may cover over 60% of the country. The consequences are dramatic for the population and the livelihood. A lot of people die and many thousands of people are displaced from their home. Also a lot of infrastructure and crops are damaged. These severe floods will likely become more frequent and intense in coming years due to Global Warming. Bangladesh also has to face the rising of the sea level. Some scientists think that if greenhouse emissions do not decrease, sea levels could rise more than three feet, and 15% of Bangladesh could be submerged. Where will these millions of people go? What will they drink once fresh water supplies will be contaminated by salt water? How many people will be affected by water-borne diseases and how will they overcome them?
It is urgent to take action. It is urgent to include in the countries’ policies measures to decrease our greenhouse emissions in order to protect our ecosystems, as well as to address climate justice and equity. Each of us can also act every day as a responsible citizen. We have to become more conscious about the energy we use every day and the impacts this could have for us, the others and the future generations. We can change some of our habits. Some simple actions and gestures will not change our life comfort but will have a positive impact on our environment and our wallets will appreciate it as well! The Environmental Protection Agency put online some advice of what we can do at home to save energy and fight Global Warming: http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/wycd/home.html.
References:
http://www.epa.gov/climatechange
http://www.globalissues.org/article/233/climate-change-and-global-warming-introduction
http://www.moef.gov.bd/moef.pdf
Oxfam Action Corps NYC encourages readers also to write their U.S. representatives and senators to ask them to support funding for international adaptation to climate change.
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