This article takes it as given that we are currently experiencing a global climate crisis. If you disagree—if you deny what your eyes can see, your ears can hear, your skin can feel, and your brain can process—then this is not the article, magazine, or organization for you. Otherwise, read on.
The current climate crisis is a humanist issue in every way because it is a human issue in every way. Humans have caused it, humans are experiencing its effects, and humans can both mitigate some of its effects and prevent or lessen the impact of the worst possible outcomes.
It is a humanist issue because humans caused it (in scientific terms, it is “anthropogenic”). This is not changing of the Earth’s climate, writ very large, over millennia, which occurs naturally over time due to tectonic and orbital shifts. Not changing of the Earth’s climate in a brief geological instant, as when a major volcanic eruption or meteor strike fills the atmosphere with particulates, ash and dust, blocking sunlight and lowering temperatures. The crisis is a well-documented, clearly global phenomenon that has grown over time into the current existential situation. It closely parallels the development of human society—agriculture, urbanization, industry—and the increasing amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere. You need look no further than Michael Mann’s “hockey stick” graph that first appeared in 2001 in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Third Assessment Report. It is a fact because it is not just these stark glaring correlations, but because there is clear, tested, and replicated causation, otherwise known as science, showing that human activities have increased the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and that carbon dioxide in the atmosphere acts as a “greenhouse gas,” meaning that solar rays bouncing off the Earth’s surface do not go back out into space but are reflected back onto the Earth’s surface, warming it.
It is a humanist issue because it impacts all aspects of human society. To fully understand this, you must first accept that very few humans, like most of you, live in air-conditioned homes; drive their own air-conditioned cars; work in air-conditioned offices; have access to supermarkets, restaurants, and food delivery services; and spend most of their time facing screens that satisfy much of their social, mental, and emotional needs. These humans are not only in less-developed nations, or overpopulated developing and developed nations, or rural and impoverished areas in our own nation, but in your own communities. They are your neighbors. As humanists we care about all humans, wherever they live, however they live.
Cities & Coastal Communities – Urban areas are experiencing increased property and infrastructure damage due to climate-related effects. More frequent and severe wildfires degrade air quality, which damages buildings, and more frequent and severe storms stress sewer systems and lead to flooding, water damage, and saltwater intrusion. The cost of repairs and to mitigate future damage stresses city budgets and impacts other government services. Coastal cities face the threat of rising sea levels, increased erosion due to storms, and tidal flooding, which cause property damage and threaten coastal infrastructure such as airports, military bases, and energy facilities. Some coastal cities and low-lying small island countries may disappear entirely, creating climate migrants.
Agriculture – Changes in climate are shifting what crops can be grown where and in what season, altering land use patterns. Rising temperatures lead to shifting ranges of weed plants and insect populations, increasing pesticide use and affecting pollinators, and extreme heat leads to increased use of water. Wildfires and storms also threaten crops and animals.
Transportation – Urban flooding affects highways, tunnels, and underground railway systems. Severe storms and associated flooding can close and damage roads, wash out bridges, and disrupt water-based transportation. Extreme heat can directly affect the performance and structural integrity of metal bridges and train rails.
Health and Welfare – Increased wildfires and storms can directly injure or kill. Increased heat can overwhelm power systems and storms can damage power lines and energy infrastructure, exposing more people to the deadly effects of extreme heat. Climate change has expanded the range of insect and plant species leading to greater prevalence of insect-borne diseases and novel allergens. Climate-related impacts on air quality affect vulnerable populations, and climate impacts on agriculture and transportation affect the food supply. As these threats to human health multiply, the same heat and storms can overwhelm health care facilities, cause hospitals to lose power, and disrupt the movement of rescue vehicles. In addition to all the threats to physical health, there are mental health impacts as well, from the impacts of heat and storms on families and livelihoods and from the anxiety over the existential threat of the climate crisis. Finally, these effects are not equally distributed, which leads to social upheaval and conflict.
The climate crisis is a humanist issue because only humans can perceive it globally, understand its causes, mitigate it where possible because some effects are already underway and irreversible, and stop doing the things that continue to make it worse with every passing day. Humans have an amazing ability to innovate our way out of many dire situations. But humans also live in societies, in cities and towns, in states, and in countries, and the politics of these entities can either promote, do nothing, or actively thwart actions to mitigate and prevent the worst possible outcomes of the climate crisis. Their commitments to one path or the other can turn with each change in leadership by election, usurpation, or invasion. International agreements like the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) can only go as far as the nations that ratify them truly commit to them, and take their voluntary commitments as moral and ethical requirements to live in a truly global society.
So what can humanists do? We can work in our communities, cities, states, provinces, and countries to promote activities that reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emitted, take up and bind some of the carbon dioxide emitted in the past, reduce the impact of the built environment with reflective roofs and green spaces, and promote the use of alternative energy sources. We can support politicians and leaders who recognize the reality of the climate crisis, accept science, respect scientists, and support action from the local to the international level to address the crisis. We can talk to our friends, family, neighbors, students, and colleagues about the human part of the climate crisis, their part, without the trip wires of politics or religion. We can talk to our fellow humans, about humans, as humanists. With increased understanding we may be able to survive.
The post The Climate Crisis – A Humanist Perspective appeared first on TheHumanist.com.
Read More TheHumanist.com
About Author
