Sustainable Living and Climate Action go hand in hand. But one is not a substitute for the other.
Sustainable Living and Climate Action go hand in hand. But one is not a substitute for the other.
This distinction is very important if we have to succeed in the fight against climate change.
Before we get on with today’s issue, I have an appeal for you.
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Very few Indian media publications are covering climate crisis or climate science as far as I know and my newsletter is one of the few that has this focus. Last year I saw a big problem with climate change communication in India and decided to fill the gap myself, as you all know already.
Researching, understanding and writing to effectively communicate the issues around Climate Change is ridiculous amounts of work. And not to mention supremely depressing! Yet, I have no choice but to work on this because the crisis is urgent and we cannot shy away from it. But, obviously I can’t do this pro-bono. An earlier fundraiser and some generous contributions helped me sustain the newsletter for two months. But I need your support once again.
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And now let’s get back to today’s topic. I’ll keep it short.
Sustainable Living and Climate Action go hand in hand. But one is not a substitute for the other.
Photo by Edward Howell on Unsplash
Sometimes the strangest things lead you down the chosen path of your life. Little over a year ago, I was a concerned, decent citizen unaware of the scale of climate crisis, happily enjoying my time on this earth by exploring its many glorious offerings, bothered a little bit about the inequality and unfairness of life but not enough to give me sleepless nights and endless anxiety. And then, I saw something happening on Instagram that annoyed and exhausted me to no end.
Recycling, using metals straws and wooden brushes, drinking almond milk, eating avocados and açaí bowls instead of meat, repeating the same set of clothes, switching off light bulbs and fixing leaking taps and other such options being promoted as top solutions to fix climate crisis.
I can’t tell you how many times I wanted to punch a wall seeing people promote this ridiculously ineffective response to global warming. And this was happening not just on social media but also in popular mainstream media by Forbes, HuffPo (Line-dry your clothes to save the planet?!! Seriously?!!!) Guardian and the likes that relentlessly cemented the idea that individual carbon footprint reductions would somehow stall global warming. After much anger and disappointment, I decided if all of this bothers me so much, then I might as well jump into the fray and challenge this harmful idea in June 2019. And that’s how, dear readers, Neelima Vallangi - the Climate Change Communicator came into being. ;)
Are you saying Sustainable Living is a scam then?
Not at all. Don’t get me wrong, sustainable living is in general really good for our planet and our overall well-being. We are in this horrible position today because we consumed and exploited our all our resources mindlessly. Correcting our past mistakes and changing our harmful ways is definitely the most important behavioural change that needs to comes about in future, if we want the planet to continue sustaining humanity.
There are several promising ideas and solutions being developed in the sustainability space that range from something as simple as recycling to as complex as making our global supply chain systems more efficient.
But is that climate action? In a roundabout way, a feeble yes.
Is that adequate? A BIG NO!
What exactly is Climate Action then?
Photo by Ella Ivanescu on Unsplash
So, what is Climate Action? I have two words for you.
Mitigation and Adaptation.
Mitigation is decarbonising our entire economy and existence as soon as possible and maybe even remove CO2 from the atmosphere.
As there is a direct relation between global average temperatures and the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the key for the solution to the climate change problem rests in decreasing the amount of emissions released into the atmosphere and in reducing the current concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) by enhancing sinks (e.g. increasing the area of forests). Efforts to reduce emissions and enhance sinks are referred to as “mitigation”. — United Nations on Mitigation
Adaptation is helping society adapt to the impacts of climate change, without leaving anyone behind.
The world is already experiencing changes in average temperature, shifts in the seasons and an increasing frequency of extreme weather events and other climate change impacts and slow onset events. The faster the climate changes, and the longer adaptation efforts are put off, the more difficult and expensive it could be. In simple terms, countries and communities need to develop adaptation solution and implement action to respond to the impacts of climate change that are already happening, as well as prepare for future impacts. — United Nations on Adaptation
I’ll talk in detail about what constitutes climate action, how different countries are tackling this and what climate activists are demanding in the next issue. For now, a good yardstick to measure what’s climate action and what’s not is if the proposed solution reduces emissions at scale in the near future or not? If yes, that’s climate action. If not, it’s a sustainability solution.
But what’s the need to distinguish between the two?
Because while both sustainability and climate action are very important for our future, it is extremely important to remember one is not a substitute for the other. Often I see sustainable living solutions being brandied as climate solutions, which has terribly muddled the waters in terms of identifying urgent solutions we need to stave off climate crisis. This confusion takes up needless time, occupies plenty mind and media space, taking away valuable attention and effort from the required climate actions. Yes, there is a lot of overlap between the two but if we want to stop global warming, we need to stop the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere from rising IMMEDIATELY.
And that’s it for this week! Don’t forget to share this article with your friends who fail to recognise this distinction.
Two useful Climate opinion pieces from Indian Media this week -
Looking beyond the summit : The postponement of the climate COP will not delay attainment of Paris summit goals. New evidence shows it is domestic climate actions that matter
Read here - https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/unfcc-cop-climate-change-summit-6526217/
The low carbon path : The science on climate change has never been clearer, but so are the solutions
Read here - https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/the-low-carbon-path-6531098/
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