How frightened I became, when I saw the weather forecaster
predicting 79°C temperature for Stavanger in his 20/12/2015 weather forecasting
report. Without further checks and verifications, I am treating it as a
technical error; but what if that was true? And it does not end there, but spreads
across many parts of the globe including where you are! That seems less
possible because it sounds too odd and uncharacteristic. Then, ask yourself
whether the climatic conditions you are observing now are the usual ones you
have always been aware of during this season? Everywhere, the odds are
happening and every year new odds are observed as the old odds become normal.
As a member of MEG
11 group (an international program in Environmental Governance at the
University of Freiburg, of 39 members from 27 countries across the globe), I
have read with many surprises from our common
Facebook and Whatsapp pages, astounding climate reports that these
environmentally concerned individuals of MEG
11 reported from their various destinations whiles on the Christmas
holidays. For the purpose of clarity, am sharing with you some few of these
posts (unedited)
No snow on the
alpes! How about Norway -Tungi
from Hong Kong
5 degrees and
pouring rain! It’s the warmest December here ever. Good we’re solving global
warming! –Kristin from Norway
+16 in Dublin yesterday
-Colin
from Ireland
I knew
deforestation is a bullshit –Piotr from Poland
+20 in Granda –Viviana
from Colombia
The weather
forecast just predicted 79degree Celsius here in Stavanger for tomorrow; it
better be a mistake because I didn’t bring my summer cloths -Kristin from
Norway
Where
are you, White (snow) Christmas? -Lilian
from Finland
The evidences are clear, though there is still some
tangling of disagreement among climate change skeptics. Yes, our climate is changing;
in fact, it has already changed beyond marginal thresholds and the situation
calls for pragmatic and concerted actions to arrest the run of our climate into
abyss.
You, like many other people today, may call it
‘Climate Change’ but I call it ‘Lifestyle Change’. The underlying cause of all
these frightening observations today is the fact that humanity has recklessly altered
our lifestyle without critically examining the capacity of the Earth on which
these opulent lifestyles are occurring.
We have relentlessly ignored scientific cautions against unlimited
industrialization in favor of economic boom and wealth creation. Not too long
ago, humanity ignored concern pleas to cease fire on war and missile explosions
in our search for political and ideological expansion and superiority. Not too
long ago, humanity ignored noble calls for population control in favor of
religious and cultural stands, and today, we continue to ignore valuable calls
to correct these lifestyle changes to bring sanity to the human environment and
secure desirable future for ourselves and generations to come.
Any attempt to assess the global climate state,
reveals that the present state stands worse to even the immediate past state.
Heartbreaking news, humanity is facing with global epidemic without a safe hub
to hide, the very existence of humanity is threatened and the future is
uncertain. We found ourselves today in a devastating nest of accumulated
problems, which means the best time to act could be some 500 years ago, but
thankfully, the next best available time is today and now! The best thing to do
amidst such progressive challenges is not to sit down to fold our arms and be doing
nothing. Also, it will be suicidal to think that a problem which has been
caused by all humanity over generations can be solved by some few institutions
occupied by some few individuals we call experts. It can no longer be viewed as
a first world problem; neither can it be left to be carried by elites in
societies. We are all at risk at equal measure.
The call to
address global environmental challenges is a call for universal responsibility.
It is a challenge on humanity that we stand together to win at the end or loss
together to end the life and existence of the human species. Happy New Year and
see you on the train to fight global climate change come 2016.
By: Ronny Agyei Yeboah,
CEO (Centre for Environmental Research and Policy
Analysis –CERPA)
Student at University of Freiburg, Germany (M.Sc.
Environmental Governance)
info@cerpagh.com /+4915218003035
30th December, 2015.
