“Things that are a great benefit to us all are becoming a threat to us all.”
On Tuesday, January 22 Club Member Dave Carson spoke about the very important issue of climate change. Dave sits on the Board of Environment Hamilton and is passionate about saving this planet! Below is a summary of his presentation.
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We are the first generation that understands climate change and the last generation that can do anything about it.
Since Oct 2018, 3 separate organizations have said rapid environmental change needs to take place by all nations. They noted hundreds of billions of dollars in damage to the US economy due to climate change.
The Rio Earth Summit in 1992 set emission targets for all countries to meet. Since then other summits have set new targets yet despite all of this, omission levels have grown by 20 percent in Canada alone. We have missed every target from all climate change conferences.
In 2018 alone, the earth experienced at least 8 major climate related disasters around the world.
Dave talked about communications and technology changes through the ages and the affect this has had on the environment.
Where are we today?
We continually strive to improve our comfort and security and overall enjoyment of life while this contributes to environmental damage. None of this is new…it began back in 1750. and accelerated as technology advanced.
- World co2 emissions continue to grow.
- Canada is number 1 per capita
- 9th by emissions
- 38th by population
Climate change is about physics and chemistry
What can we change?
1) Change our consumption and desires
2) Change our sources and use of energy
3) Change our response to what we know.
Until the general public understand the crisis they won’t support the strong actions required. Governments need to save the environment so that we can have a livable society and economy.
* We need to update our Paris accord targets
* We need to set further laws, incentives and regulations to meet our new target
As individuals what can we do?
1) Continue to educate ourselves about climate change
2) Speak up and out about it
3) Accept that it requires major changes to our social and economic systems
4) Get ready in our personal lives
What can we do in our daily lives?
1) Shop less
2) Less air and cruise travel
3) Drive less (cars are the largest source of emissions in Hamilton)
4) Eat lower on the food chain (less meat…more protein from grains)