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Humanity’s big problem

photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Smoke from the forest fires in the Northwest Territories blanketed the community of Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, in July 2014.

Guest column by Craig Scott, executive director of Ecology North.

Naturalist Sir David Attenborough has said climate change is humanity’s greatest threat in thousands of years. He was speaking at the opening ceremony of the United Nations COP24 event in Katowice, Poland. The meeting is the most critical on climate change since the 2015 Paris Agreement. World leaders are meeting at COP24 to discuss and negotiate how to stabilize our planet’s atmosphere from human emitted greenhouse gases.
The most recent Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) report, released by the world’s leading climate scientists, have warned there are only 12 years left for global warming to be kept to a maximum of 1.5C, beyond which even half a degree will significantly worsen the risk of drought, floods, extreme heat and poverty for hundreds of millions of people.
These devastating impacts can be prevented through an ambitious, but feasible, Paris agreement pledge to keep the temperature increase between 1.5C and 2C.
The effects of climate change are felt globally, but nowhere are the impacts as obvious as in the Arctic regions, including the NWT. While latest reports show global average surface temperatures have increased by 0.9C, the Arctic is experiencing warming at more than twice the global average.
Sheila Watt-Cloutier, former International Chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council and author of A Right to Be Cold, argues that climate change is not just about the physical changes in the land and ecosystems, but it is also about human rights, human health, food security, poverty, loss of traditional knowledge and global insecurity as traditional ways of life are lost. We need to recognize how profoundly climate change will affect us, our children and our grandchildren. Scientists have even coined a new term "eco-anxiety" to describe feelings of isolation and displacement caused by climate change. In the NWT, this was recently on display during the 2014 Summer of Smoke.
The IPCC report notes that the greatest challenge in the fight against climate change is not the lack of scientific know-how, but the lack of political will. It is imperative that the NWT heed the IPCC report’s warnings and take ambitious action as a jurisdiction with a great deal to lose from rapid climate change.
We can no longer use the excuse that we are a small, cold and remote jurisdiction, nor should we wait for outsiders to come and help us. We must rise up as leaders and set an example for the rest of Canada and the world that climate change is important to our young population who will have to live with the consequences of the current wave of political gamesmanship. Frankly we cannot afford inaction on climate change; eco-anxiety and thawing permafrost are only two of the many real and hidden costs that NWT residents will be burdened with if we do not take a strong stance on climate change. We need our leaders front and centre on the global stage demanding action and showing off what we will do to clean up our act.
Fortunately, there are NWT residents who are working to bring the climate related challenges being faced by the territories to the world. Ecology North board member Dr. Courtney Howard launched the Lancet Countdown report, released last week, arguing that the viability of national health systems are threatened by climate change, and the response by global leaders will influence how intense these health threats will become in the future.
Courtney is currently in Poland at the COP24 meetings where the world’s leaders are gathering to figure out how to deal with the biggest challenge of our generation. Respected Dene elder Francois Paulette and Richard Stewart, a courageous young man from Fort McPherson, are also in Poland to represent the NWT.
Unfortunately, our government is not there with them. We are proud of this group who will eloquently represent the North, alongside those from endangered Pacific Islands and sub-Saharan countries who will bear much of the brunt of climate inaction.
This holiday season, think about the climate and the wonderful things a stable planet provides to all humankind and ask yourself if your elected leaders are doing enough to limit global warming to 1.5C.