ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISM
What is environmental activism?
I investigate what it means to be an environmental activist and how easy it is to be one,
the stigma surrounding it, and whether movements like Extinction Rebellion are effective.
WHY NOW?
The UK Government is set to host UN climate talks this November in Glasgow, called COP26. All countries will be asked to develop plans to limit global heating to 1.5C and set targets aligned with reaching net zero by the middle of the century.
In July 2020 the government created an Environment Bill described as having "targets, plans, and policies for improving the natural environment". Following this, in April 2021 the UK government set the world’s most ambitious climate change target into law to reduce emissions by 78% by 2035 compared to 1990 levels.
But Extinction Rebellion argues, "Since 2019 declared emergency, the government has made several grandstanding promises, while in reality, the UK is ignoring its Paris climate goals making major infrastructure decisions, undermining its presidency of UN Climate talks in Glasgow this year."
The Committee on Climate Change found last year that “The UK has failed on 17 out of 21 progress indicators, falling further behind in many areas…with just two of the 31 key policy milestones having been met over the past year.”
How does climate change affect us?
According to Emergency on Planet Earth (EPE) a report which contains a selection of key facts from Scientists:
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The number of extreme climate-related disasters - including extreme heat, droughts, floods and storms - has doubled since the early 1990s.
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More than two-thirds of all extreme weather events investigated were made more likely, or more severe, by human-caused climate change.
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According to Morgan Stanley, from 2016-2018 climate-related disasters cost the world $650 billion.
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Outside air pollution causes 4.8 million early deaths a year. Nine out of ten people on our planet breathe polluted air.
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In London, 24 people die every day due to air pollution. Damages to health from air pollution alone cost over 4% of GDP in the 15 countries with the highest emissions.
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Rising temperatures are creating conditions for tropical diseases to spread to parts of the world where they are not usually seen.
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Without adaptation, climate change may depress growth in global agriculture yields up to 30% by 2050. The 500 million small farms around the world will be most affected.
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On our current path, by 2050 it is estimated that there could be up to 200 million environmental migrants.
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Rising sea levels are projected to make land currently inhabited by more than 300 million people likely to flood at least once a year.
