Global Warming is an emergency, as it is the most urgent issue that is facing us as a species at this moment. It is an occurrence requiring immediate action, and we are all in need for relief.
Emergency
[ ih-mur-juhn-see ]
noun, plural e·mer·gen·cies
1) a sudden, urgent, usually unexpected occurrence or occasion requiring immediate action.
2) a state, especially of need for help or relief, created by some unexpected event: a weather emergency; a financial emergency.
The event is not particularly unexpected, as scientists have been warning since the 70ies. But the difference between ignored and unknown does not matter at this point. Fact is it is happening, and it is happening at unexpected speed.
Recently as the OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) has noted the climate strikes as the “greatest threat” to the oil industry, the efforts to discredit global warming as hoax have increased.
Fossil fuel companies knew already 40 years ago, and spent a fortune to spread misinformation.
So in case you do not believe Climate Change is a huge problem, please reconsider the winners and losers.
The Effects
This website has a very nice list of all the effects currently happening due to climate change. https://www.climate-change-guide.com/effects-of-climate-change.htm
It is very important that we understand how various the effects are and that there are a lot of them!
- droughts,
- dust storms,
- floods,
- heat waves,
- tropical storms,
- tornadoes,
- sea level rise
- wildfires,
- glacial meltdown,
- refugees,
- shrinking lakes,
- desertification,
- ocean acidification,
- extinction,
- tropical diseases,
- food poisoning
- food & water shortages.
The sections in italic below are quotes from Leading the Public into Emergency Mode, by psychologist Margaret Klein Salamon PhD, founder of The Climate Mobilization in the US. She uses the term ’emergency mode’ to refer to the flow state in which people temporarily set aside business-as-usual and focus intently on determining the safest course of action and doing whatever is required, right now, to deal effectively with a threat.
To evaluate whether we are currently in a climate crisis, the public will look to each other — and particularly to the climate organizations, writers, and leaders. Are they calling it an emergency? Does the tone of their writing and statements convey alarm and a passionate desire for massive action to avert imminent crisis? Are they demanding an emergency response? Are they acting like it’s an emergency? Are they themselves in emergency mode? If the answer to these questions is “no,” the individual will conclude that there must not be an emergency, or that emergency action is hopeless because the leaders are apparently unwilling to coordinate emergency action.
We started this ECI “Actions on Climate Emergency” to get the European Comission into an emergency mindset. Only if they understand the gravity of the situation can they act appropriately.
