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One major issue regarding justice and peace in the world today is climate change. Climate change is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as: “A change in global or regional climate patterns, in particular, a change apparent from the mid to late 20th century onwards and is attributed largely to the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels”. By definition, climate change is something we as humans have caused through the usage of fossil fuels, it is an almost entirely manmade crisis. Usually, of course, when there is a crisis, government officials try to prevent or solve the problem before it gets out of hand. However, regarding climate change the action needed isn’t being taken and many of those in power seem happy enough to continue to perpetuate the cycle at future generations' expense; if it means that their country will climb the economic ladder.
For example, Jair Bolsonaro, the Brazilian president has argued and campaigned for more land in the Amazon rainforest to be used for primary economic activities such as mining, farming, and forestry and has cut the budget for IBAMA (Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources) by 24% and these new reforms are only the beginning as he's only been in office for ten months. Bolsonaro has gone as far as encouraging those in the foresting industry to deforest more of the Amazon, which indirectly caused approximately 9060km² of the Amazon rainforest to be lost through forest fires in the Amazon earlier this year. The fires in question were caused by farmers in the northern Brazilian state of Pará, who set fire to their properties to clear their land and show their support for Bolsonaro. The number of forest fires in the Amazon Rainforest so far this year has been over 87,000, compared to 49,000 forest fires at the same time last year. This is simply not acceptable and is one of the most recent examples of why Climate Change is not only a crisis but a major issue of Justice and Peace in the world today.
According to almost all major world religions today, we as humans are expected to be stewards of the earth and to care for every person and every creature on the planet as it is god's gift to us. In Christianity and Judaism, we are told, “You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it” - Numbers 35:33 .While this quote is not telling God's followers not to litter and to save water ect, it is a powerful message and can be taken many ways. One way to take this quote is to see violence against one another, we can't kill each other for land or kill others that live on it, however, this can also be taken as not purposely killing any creature on Earth whether it be human, animal, plants or otherwise. We were all put on this earth for a reason and must learn to share and live together in harmony and care for all living creatures around us.
However our negligence in this regard can be seen all over the world, the UN Environmental Programme states that over 1 million animals and plant species are now under threat of extinction and the loss of species seen today is between 1000 and 10,000 times higher than the natural extinction rate. As much as 30-50% of the planet's species could be extinct by 2050 if we do not take on our role as stewards of the Earth and begin to take our carbon emission targets seriously. On top of this, over 300-400 million tonnes of solvents and fertilizers being pumped into the ocean has caused over 400 “dead zones” within our ocean, according to the UN Environmental Programme. Dead zones are areas of the ocean that have become so low in oxygen due to pollution they cannot support any life in them at all.
Considering all of this, we aren’t doing nearly enough to prevent or even do so much as control climate change despite having all the tools and information to do so but there is hope in the form of organizations such as XRI (Extinction Rebellion Ireland), a nonviolent branch of the global Extinction Rebellion Movement in Ireland. As well as in activists such as Greta Thunberg and religious leaders such as the Dalai Lama.
The Dalai Lama is the religious leader of Buddhism and has advocated for climate change and care for the earth for many years now, calling it a “problem which human beings created”. In 2015 at the United Nations Climate Change Summit the Dalai Lama made a speech regarding climate change saying that immediate action to prevent climate change is needed because “This is not a question of one nation or two nations. This is a question of humanity. Our world is our home. There's no other planet where we may move or shift”. Here he brings in the very core reason why Climate Change is a world issue and an issue of peace and justice in the world today if we do not solve the problem we created, the effects it will have on humanity will be grave, especially in poorer regions of the Earth. It affects people in poorer or more corrupt countries more adversely than those in more politically stable countries because the weather changes increase the amounts of natural disasters such as hurricanes or tsunamis and governments in poorer countries are often unable to help their people effectively after a natural disaster strikes. For example, after an Earthquake occurred in Haiti in 2010 approximately more than 300 000 people died due to inadequate reinforcements which caused many buildings to collapse. Many hospitals were unusable and survivors had injuries left untreated for days and corpses were stacked on streets because there wasn't enough space in the mourners for all those who had died. 17.2 million people were displaced from their homes in 2018 due to natural disasters, 60% of all those displaced from their homes! As sea levels continue over 40% of the world's population will have to move inland.
Research has also shown that Earth has lost almost one-third of its arable land in the past 40 years and more than 1.3 billion people live on land at risk of becoming arid and infertile. This puts these people at risk of having poor harvests, thus increasing the rate of famines and worsening the state of poverty those people already live in. The World Bank states that drought has destroyed enough food to feed 81 million people every day for a year since 2001. In 2017,81 million people across the globe were malnourished. That's 11% of the world's population and it is predicted that by 2050 that figure will be at 20%! If we do not get climate change under control there will be no hope for countries like Zimbabwe or Mali to pull their people out of poverty and establish themselves as economically booming countries because they will be permanently trying to solve hunger and water shortages in their countries which are only made more extreme by climate change
I feel like these figures truly show how much of an effect climate change is having - and will have - on humanity as a whole and why it is an issue of justice and peace. It is simply unjust to think that people today's poverty and suffering are only exacerbated by climate change and that our future generations will suffer even more shortages. Everyone deserves the right to a clean, safe, and healthy Earth and if future generations may not have that bare minimum then we must act now to preserve our planet for them as best we can. And so, to finish with the Dalai Lamas's words, “ This problem which human beings created, logically we human beings have the responsibility to reduce this problem and finally eliminate this problem because we created it but we are relying on praying to God or Buddha. Sometimes I feel like this is very illogical.”
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