the economic appeal of renewable energy impossible to ignore.
Wind and solar power are now both cheaper than coal, and
every major car manufacturer on the planet is pivoting towards
electric vehicles. Almost a fifth of the world's energy now comes
from renewable sources, and the figure is growing rapidly. These
advances won't change the equation overnight, but you can rest
assured if people can't change the arc of history, money most
definitely will.
...................
Who's leading the fight? In the face of governmental inaction,
it's fallen to a wide-ranging coalition of scientists, inventors,
entrepreneurs, activists and everyday folk to try and change
the world's warming ways. This ranges from 350.org's wildly
successful campaign to get banks to stop investing in fossil
fuels, to the Pope's 2015 call for action against climate change,
and the recently formed Global Commission on Adaptation, led
by Bill Gates and former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon,
whose goal is to help the world prepare for the disruptions
coming our way. In Australia, the crowd-funded Climate
Council provides a strong, unwavering voice against the gross
neglect of the current government (their website features loads
of infographics, reports, podcasts and videos if you’d like to
find out more about climate change and ways to take action),
while the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, with more than
150,000 members, is a powerful advocacy organisation for the
generation that stands to lose the most from climate change
apathy: young people. (Current campaigns are focused on
shutting down the Adani coal mine in Queensland, putting
a stop to fracking projects in the Northern Territory, and
persuading high schools in New South Wales and Victoria
to switch over to clean energy sources.)
How can I make a difference? Global warming is such a huge and
overwhelming issue that it's easy to feel a bit powerless in your day-
to-day life. But there are countless gestures big and small that you can
make to try and limit your impact on the Earth. Walk, cycle and take
public transport. Reduce, reuse, recycle. Turn off lights and appliances
when you leave the house. Make sure those lights use low-energy LED
globes. Wash your clothes less frequently and buy secondhand. Eat less
meat and buy organic, locally sourced produce if you can. Support an
environmental charity and take part in a protest. Only vote for political
candidates who have a strong, well-articulated climate change policy.
You may not be able to stop climate change by yourself, but by becoming
part of an ever-growing movement of ecological awareness, you're
helping effect the cultural change the world needs in order to save itself....................
What happens next? To be honest, we don't know. But whatever does
happen, it needs to happen fast. In October, the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change released a rousing report that showed
keeping global warming to only 1.5°C would require not just a peak in
our consumption of fossil fuels by the year 2030, but a full 60 per cent
drop from our current levels. If we fail to do that, the report says, we
run the risk of climate change producing its own feedback loops and
vastly exaggerating the impacts we're already seeing. However, we’re
moving in the right direction, one shuttered coal-fired power station
at a time, and there's every reason to believe that renewable energy is
on the verge of causing a rapid technological revolution. Think of it this
way: nobody had smartphones 10 years ago. Now, 2.5 billion people use
one. Change can come faster than you think. There's a long way to go,
and no one can stay out of the struggle. But if we do manage to avoid
the most catastrophic impacts of climate change, against all the forces
laid out against us, it will go down as the greatest feat of co-operation
in human history.learn something new