"Hurricane Michael: a record of devastation", "Beer could become more expensive due to global warming", "More and more climate-related natural disasters" - headlines about global warming have been piling up in recent weeks, and the topic is more present than it has been for years.
Why now of all times?
As early as 1972, the Club of Rome called for the conservation of resources and the reduction of environmental pollution. But back then they gave mankind another 100 years. That was a long way off, far too far away to be tangible, far too far away to be relevant for governments and states.
At the beginning of October 2018, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published a report calling for global warming to be limited to 1.5°C instead of 2°C as in the Paris Climate Agreement of 2015. There is hardly any time to implement this, as man-made global warming is already around 1.1°C compared to pre-industrial times. We will reach the limit value of 1.5°C by 2030 to 2040. That's 2 to 3 legislative periods, that's a child's time at school, that's tangible, that's soon. It's no longer just about the future of our children and grandchildren, but about our own.
Reducing the target to 1.5 °C would halve the catastrophic consequences of climate change. Only 70% of coral reefs would disappear and not 99%. Record heat years like 2016 would only occur every second year and not nine times in 10 years.
Why now of all times?
- In the last 20 years, floods, storms, heatwaves, droughts and forest fires have caused more than twice as much financial damage as in the 20 years before that. The increase is not only due to the growing world population taking out insurance and moving to endangered areas, no, climate-related natural disasters are on the rise.
- In Switzerland, glaciers have lost a fifth of their volume in the past 10 years In 2018, in addition to enormous heat, there was also a severe drought in summer, which meant that there was less fresh summer snow in the Swiss mountains than ever before (since measurements began 81 years ago).
A study published on October 15 observed a 10-60-fold decline in insect biomass in a Puerto Rican rainforest between 1976 and 2012, with insectivorous lizards, frogs and birds also disappearing at the same time. The scientists cite the average temperature in the forest, which has risen by 2 degrees, as the cause.
Possible solution: Customization
One thing is certain, we will have to learn to deal with some changes, because global warming can no longer be undone. Farmers in Bangladesh, for example, are switching from keeping chickens to ducks as they are increasingly affected by flooding. In the Philippines, lost mangrove forests are being reforested as their roots reduce the power of storm surges.
In the Sierra Nevada, an orchard that is probably over 150 years old offers a fascinating reservoir of old varieties, such as an apple variety that keeps fresh for 5 months without refrigerated storage. In addition, fruit varieties thrive there that have produced good yields over the last 50 years despite rising temperatures and changing weather conditions and also taste many times better than commercially available varieties.
A group led by billionaire Bill Gates, former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and World Bank CEO Kristalina Georgieva launched an initiative to collect measures and solutions that could make the consequences of climate change more bearable. The first plans are to be presented at the UN Climate Summit in 2019.
Must do: LimitCO2
Humans are masters of adaptation, whether they live in Yakutsk, Siberia or Death Valley, USA. What we find more difficult is getting rid of habits. Various scenarios therefore predict that achieving the 1.5 and 2°C target is unrealistic, except through technologies that specifically intervene in the climate system.
These technologies are aimed directly at removingCO2 from the atmosphere. So far, this has worked best with plants, for example by planting trees. The wood is then deposited in disused mines in the absence of oxygen so that it does not weather andCO2 is released into the atmosphere. However, agriculture and forestry would have to compete for land, and I don't think anyone wants to decide whether the fight against hunger or climate change is more important.
A more sensible option is therefore to bindCO2 in the soil by building up humus. This not only increases the fertility of the soil, but also the yield. This strategy is also pursued by the Prüf Nach! guidelines developed by Werner Lampert and his team of experts.
Another approach is aimed at dimming the sun in order to cool the earth. The proposals are many and varied, but unfortunately some are associated with costs, risks and undesirable side effects that are difficult to assess.
Which screw can you turn?
Science alone is not our lifeline, because each individual can also make a contribution. And don't be afraid of change! Think about the happiest moments in your life. When you bought your second pair of winter shoes? Certainly not!
A return to the essentials - The aspects of life that make us happy, content and balanced are also automatically the most climate-friendly. This is because they are not linked to capital and growth, but to interpersonal relationships and the nature that surrounds us.
So turn the screw where you cause the mostCO2, be it in air travel, daily consumption of meat, excessive consumption of electrical appliances or clothing, and you will be surprised what new possibilities and horizons will open up in your life.
Get rid of harmful habits, because:
"We are the last generation that can change course on climate change [...] and the first that will have to live with the consequences." Kristalina Georgieva, World Bank CEO
About the author
Dr. Isabell Riedl has been working as a sustainability officer and in communications at Werner Lampert GmbH since 2012. She studied ecology with a focus on nature and landscape conservation and tropical ecology at the University of Vienna. She wrote her dissertation on the importance of tree rows in agricultural areas for forest birds in Costa Rica. Throughout her life, she has been particularly committed to ecological sustainability. She is part of the editorial team of the online magazine "Nachhaltigkeit. Rethink."
