KENYA 1A: The Different Perspectives on Climate Change and My Vision for a Sustainable World.

Sep 1, 2017 by Aisha Maalim

As much as I would like to emphasize how dire this situation is; it has already been done, so many times previously, by my peers. So all I shall attempt is to try and remind us all…that “climate change” is the change in climate over a sustained period of time, which the World Meteorological Organization times 30 years, it has resulted in global warming (increase in global surface temperature), changes in rainfall patterns and the rate of extreme weather events. This should be common knowledge, found easily on Wikipedia, a click away. So imagine my surprise when some people, adding on the physical evidence that this is happening; such as the melting ice around the poles and increase in sea levels as well as the increase of the acidity of waters , find it to be a hoax.

There are many different perspectives. One student may believe that climate change is an issue and that it is our survival that is in question, realizes that he/she has a wider impact and understands the ripple effect of ignoring the issue. Another is a student that knows that climate change is an issue, understands the repercussions, but does not believe that they have a direct impact or any to the rising temperatures. The difference between these two is that one takes it upon themselves and knows that you should lead by example and the other does not. The third perspective is the belief that they do have an impact, we all do, but the earth is already changing and there is nothing we can do to stop it. The fourth and last, are the people that prefer to carry around the belief that it is a world government conspiracy or hoax. As fun as conspiracy theories are, we need to also ask the motive behind bringing it to our attention and introducing the widespread panic and the long way they have gone to make the evidence so present and dooming to their existence as well as our future generations.

This, however, maybe answered by something Melissa stated in her blog; this could be due to the way they are affected by it. Social class, a person depending on farming would have the bad weather affecting their crops and in turn, they will be affected, while a person with higher income would probably not be directly affected by it because they would be able to eat properly. Also culture is another factor, that a student from a nomadic community that would follow their tradition of moving every time the land no longer caters well to their needs or its conditions are no longer made for human habitation, would probably feel effects of climate more critically and that a student from a more developed country would also feel the impact less. This is the sad truth.

This quote from the Declaration on Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples of El Salvador: “Indigenous peoples live in the most fragile ecosystems of the Earth, namely: tropical wet forests, mountainous systems, coastal plains, deserts, moors and islands, among others, and are human populations highly vulnerable to climate variability and change. The negative impacts due to global climate change threat all forms of life that currently exist in our Mother Earth, as well as the diverse human cultures, natural environments and livelihoods of rural human populations.” Is the best way to state my personal point of view on this particular subject. Most of us living in cities where everything is always within reach, whether food or water, notice climate change in the form of how hot or cold we felt that day but somewhere in this world another person experiences it as a new shortage of their basic necessities. Whether famine, drought or even floods, it is a sudden unpredictability of a land they once called home. This is a humanitarian issue that needs to be a priority and people need to understand that every one of us is responsible for it, however insignificant you may feel and therefore need to step up in the call of action.

Another quote from the Bhutan Declaration on Climate Change and Mountain Indigenous Peoples stating:“Even though we are suffering disproportionately from climate change impacts, we contribute the least to global emissions; nevertheless we have been marginalized from participating in the development and implementation of policies, programs, plans and actions related to our local adaptation.” bluntly describes a great problem we have, even when we have decided to tackle climate change, of not including the people whose lives it would most affect if the world went on this way and who have the knowledge of the land we need, to bring forth solutions that are well informed of variables so we may get a better idea of how a good solution, in theory, may look out on the field. Making climate change solutions be more effective and reliable.

Why is it really important for people to have these perspectives?

Keeping in mind that the IPCC forth assessment report states that the lowest SRES marker scenario’s (out of the six SRES “marker scenarios” used as representative of the forty SRES scenarios, which are the ones that have omission projections) best estimate is the rise of 1.8 degrees Celsius by the end of the 21^st Century, the highest being 4 degrees. The SRES is a baseline for scenarios, which does not take into account any future or current measures to limit Greenhouse gas emissions; these are also comparable in range to the baseline emissions that have been developed by the scientists. Governments have now decided to take action. So, with the recent world efforts in the last couple of decades to reduce the rate of the inevitable reality, difference in perspectives has come to play with the reception of the resolutions moving forward.

One such play is the USA, under the trump’s administration, publicly pulling out of the Paris Agreement or Paris Accord. He states his reason, in so many words, as the unfairness of the agreement to the United States. An agreement within the UNFCCC dealing with the reduction of Greenhouse Gases, which as of June 2017, 194 parties have signed and 148 have given consent to. This agreement having the aims to reduce the global increase of temperature to well below 2 degrees, increasing the ability to adapt to the impacts of climate change and making finance flows consistent with the pathway to low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient developments. Keeping in mind that this is a man who spent most of his campaign stating climate change is a hoax, it is horrific, but non-surprising that the world’s 2^nd largest polluter has now opted out of this historic agreement. It shows his priorities and his true thoughts on this issue.

The first image above shows some of the effects of climate change which includes the drying up of water from the surface of the earth; this is how our children and our children’s children will have to live if we continue down this path. The second shows, in my view, how the earth, our home, is affected by OUR actions and how it is all in our hands.

What is my vision for a sustainable world and how would we achieve this?

My vision is nothing new. In my sustainable world, businesses have alternate ways to profit which takes into account the impact to the environment and ensures that it is at its least. We have access to affordable energy by use and people around the globe have unpolluted water. Our transport systems are environmentally friendly either by technological advancements, walking or cycling and have more recyclable forms of packaging. We should be able to have both governments across the world as well as businesses collaborating to try and make sure our resources are not complete and for scientists to help find other materials to be used to replace the ones already misused. It is a problem for all of us to solve as it AFFECTS us all so we should at least involve our indigenous people by educating them about our findings and allowing them to share their knowledge as there is nobody else who knows our lands like they do. We should also educating each and every person about the problems we face and solutions we have proposed from social media to billboards, we cannot allow anyone to ignore this situation.

How has colonization impacted our journey to a sustainable world?

With colonization came the widespread industrialization all across the world, this is the main reason for climate change now isn’t it? Even though, we could not truly at the time completely foresee the effects of the increase of that much carbon dioxide into the air, but we can say that the cutting down of trees for factories , the smoke emitted from them and the drilling for oil and other resources has now ruined our beautiful planet beyond repair. So now, we look to the future and try to keep from further damage 

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