Week ten: Climate Change Mitigation

Climate change mitigation

Climate change affects our water resources. And our forests and also our energy resources. Because there will be an increasing demand for water to be used by industries, an increasing demand for land and thus clearing forests and also an increasing demand for energy. People themself will suffer : they will be hit by droughts, food shortages, storms and more negatives outcomes of climate change.
And the people who will suffer the most, will be those who now are already the poorest.
(http://news.nationalgeographic.com.au/news/2013/01/pictures/130115-climate-change-superstorm-atmosphere-science/).

How can we tackle the ccauses and effects of climate change?
1. Working with communities and help them to adapt to climate change
2. Working with other organisations to share knowledge about approaches which work well in the changing environment.
3. Working nationally and internationally to lobby for emission reduction and focus and climate change adaptation
4. Working with schools and teachers to make children understand the issue of climate change so to grow into adults who comprehend the consequences of their actions on their environment.
5. Raise awareness about the impacts of climate change in order to be able to demand change of today's approach on climate change.
(http://practicalaction.org/climate-change?utm_source=S000&utm_medium=PPC&utm_campaign=C10105&gclid=CJXT6O7VnL4CFcGXvQodGZoA3A)

In climate change mitigation, CO2 level play an important role.
Before the industrial revolution, CO2 levels were about 280 parts per million (ppm), but now it is believed to have exceeded 387ppm. The world has agreed to work towards stabilisation goals of between 450 and 550 ppm, which means a rise in temprature of between 2 and 3 degrees celcius. This will still have large scale impacts such as melting of ice sheets. Although there is no fixed goal set, countries and even cities have set their own goals in contributing to cut CO2 emission. And most of the burden will be carried by richer nations, since they contribute the most to CO2 emission. These nations want to cut emissions by 50% as of 2050. Some scientists even say that emissions have to be reduced by 80% "to avoid global impact" (http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/jun/10/carbonemissions).
Regardless of the exact amount of reduction, severe cuts require radical political leadership if we want these cuts to be achieved. Because these cuts need to be done together with alterations of a lifestyle current generations do not want to give up (http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/jun/10/carbonemissions).