climate change – Pike & Hurricane

When everything fails: lessons from Nauru

Isa Tiilikainen — Sun, 14 Jun 2020 09:49:11 +0000

In the Pacific Ocean, 4500 kilometers northeast of Australia, there is a tiny island nation called Nauru. The population today is at around 12 000 and it is one of the least visited countries in the world. In the 1970s Nauru earned the reputation of being the wealthiest nation of all, measured by GDP per capita. But the tragic chain of events that followed can now serve as a lesson for the rest of the world.

A long way to independence

Let’s start from the beginning. The history of Nauru has been a road paved with tears. In the 1800s European merchants brought alcohol and firearms to the island, leading to a ten year civil war during which one third of the population died. Then the Germans took over and Nauru was made part of Bismarck’s Empire in 1888.

After the First World War, the UN ordered Nauru to be under the mandate of Britain and Australia. Then came the Second World War. Nauru was occupied by the Japanese and bombed by the US. Japan took over half of the population as slaves to the Chuuk islands and left Nauru close to extinction.

For the next two decades Nauru was again ruled under Australian mandate, until the year 1968 when the island nation declared its independence.

Nauru’s wealth

But how did Nauru end up as the richest nation in the world? It’s all thanks to a natural resource called phosphate.

In the year 1900 an Australian prospector, Albert Ellis, was the first to discover phosphate on the island. In an agreement with the Germans, the British ’’Pacific Phosphate Company’’ began exploiting the reserves in 1906. Phosphate is a key ingredient in fertilizers, which started becoming increasingly used in intensive farming during the 1950s. For decades, all the money gained from Nauru’s natural resource went to the Brits and the Australians. But with the declaration of independence in 1968, Nauru nationalized it’s phosphate mines. And so the fun began.

The increasing population of the world needed more and more food, which created a huge demand for agriculture fertilizers. Ship after ship of phosphate was transported to Australia and from there onward, and money was flowing to Nauru. There was no need for taxes. Education and health care, everything was free. Phosphate made every single citizen so rich, that by 1970s Nauru had the world’s largest GDP per capita. If we count the total in euros, Nauru exported 2,2 billion worth of phosphate in less than 35 years.

Turning tables

But what follows when one gets too much money too quickly? Foolishness. Nauruans began importing all kind of electrical equipment and refreshments to the island; fridges, freezers, televisions, sports cars, steaks, cheeses, soft drinks. Building bigger houses and establishing its own airline for a nation with a population of then 7000. Buying sports cars didn’t make much sense either, as the country only has one road with a speed limit of 50 km/h. But everyone needed to have a car, or two or even three. And when people didn’t have to work much anymore, traditional professions like fishing practically vanished.

Years rolled by as Nauruans were enjoying their life. Until the century changed to 2000s and the nation made an observation. The phosphate had run out. So, not only was Nauru now facing economic devastation after losing their only source of income, the mining had left the island’s nature severely contaminated. Nauruans had been digging the land under their feet. It is estimated that 40% of the marine life has been lost as a result of the pollution.

80% of the land mass in Nauru is uninhabitable today. Practically the whole center of the island is in ruins after of the phosphate mining. Where there used to be tropical mango, lime and papaya trees, there now is landfill where the wrecks sports cars lie on top of each other. Nauru has become unable to sustain any agricultural crops of their own and is fully dependent on imported and highly processed food that comes in mostly canned.

During the 80s and 90s, there had already been some talk about the financial state of the island, and the nation had found a brief source of income from becoming a tax haven. Especially the Russian mafia took advantage of this and allegedly laundered several tens of billions in cash through Nauru.

When all the phosphate then ran out, the State of Nauru declared bankruptcy in 2001. This meant that all of nation’s banks fell and the properties that the state had gathered in previous years had to be sold. Nauru turned to cash economy and unemployment rate at the island rose to 90%, a rate which it still is at today. A new plan was needed, to get the nation back on its feet.

Nauru and Australia

Australia came to the rescue, but with a hefty cost.

Around the same time in 2001, a refugee crisis was erupting in Australia and the country had started to adopt strict immigration policies. It was decided that any migrants who came to Australia by boat would not be taken in anymore. However, all these refugees that were turned away, needed to be relocated. And so, Australia made a proposition to start collecting them at Nauru. This decision is known as the ’’Pacific Solution’’ and it ended up becoming Nauru’s economic lifeline.

Today, Australian aids form a large part of Nauru’s GDP. By estimate, the refugee deal benefits Nauru with several tens of millions a year. But the fact which Nauru doesn’t want media attention on, is the conditions at the detention camps. Human rights organisations have reported of assaults, sexual harassment and child abuse. Refugees are not allowed to leave the island. Some have even ended up committing suicide.

Nauruans are annoyed at the negative media attention the country gets. They view the detention camps as a matter of Australian politics which they have little to do with as the camps are largely run by Australians. And as a country with major financial issues, the deal was impossible to turn down. The Australian Labor Party has suggested that the refugees should be moved to Australia, where they originally were headed. But this would then be a another major blow to Nauru’s economy.

Protesters in Perth, Australia, 2015

Climate change as an added threat

Not only has Nauru faced environmental devastation and economic catastrophe in recent years, the island is now also in the front lines of the climate change. It is estimated that if the sea level keeps rising with the current speed, before the year 2100, Nauruans themselves will become climate refugees. Less than one meter rise is enough to cover the only habitable part of the island, the one road where every citizen lives.

While the story of Nauru poses frightful omens for the future of the world, it could just act as a warning example. The rest of us still have a possibility to choose a different path. Just by looking at the historic statistics on increasing global average temperature, average energy consumption or the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, it becomes evident that the current rate of exploitation of natural resources is in no way a sustainable plan for the future. It is now up to the world not to replicate the mistakes that Nauru has made. At least the former President of Nauru, Baron Waqa has some hope. In 2017 he was asked: Could the story of Nauru be a lesson to the rest of the world? He answered: “Well yes, it was a learning lessons for ourselves too. We didn’t plan for this to happen. So, could the rest of the world learn from this? I sure want to believe that they would.’’

by Isa Tiilikainen

Photo Credits

Nauru, 2013, casjsa CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Air Nauru Boeing 737-400;C2-RN10, August 1994, Aero Icarus, CC BY-SA 2.0

The site of secondary mining of phosphate rock in Nauru, 2007, Lorrie Graham /AusAID , CC BY 2.0

Love Makes a Way, 2015, Louise Coghill , CC BY-SA 2.0 CC BY-SA 2

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How life will disappear if we continue to overexploit nature

Aimée Niau Lacordaire — Sun, 17 May 2020 14:35:59 +0000

The Amazonia and Australia’s fires, the coronavirus, and the invasion of insects in Africa: those four disasters that hit between 2019 and 2020 have one point in common; they are all due to the impact of humans on nature.

The extent of the damage

During the years 2019 and 2020, 4,700 square kilometers of the Amazonian forest burned, the equivalent of the size of 628 football stadiums. There are at least 1.6 million hectares of the Australian forest which burned and 2000 koalas that died during the fire. And more than 228 000 people have died of coronavirus in the world. Furthermore, East Africa is being invaded and ravaged by locusts. Due to the lack of information on the impact of the locust invasion, we don’t exactly know the extent of the damage, however, this greatly affected the harvests and therefore risks famine. But the worst is yet to come. Because these phenomena are only going to multiply if we continue to overexploit nature.

What are they due to?

In fact, the forest fires in Australia are the results of an exceptional drought and heat waves which are unquestionably linked to global warming. Likewise, the cyclones that hit Africa have favored the insects’ circulation and reproduction. It’s the extreme climatic variations that caused those cyclones, and so ideal conditions for these locusts. In Amazonia, the climate alone does not explain forest fires, but they are also due to humans who want to appropriate the land to cultivate it. In the 90’s, deforestation was principally due to agriculture, but now it’s the expansion of soybean plantations in order to feed livestock, which is the number one cause of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest.

The coronavirus were been transmitted to humans by a pangolin, and these animals are heavily poached, “researchers estimated in 2017 that between 400,000 and 2.7 million pangolins are now hunted each year in the forests of Central Africa to supply the Asian market”.This animal is on the verge of extinction, not only because of poaching but also because of deforestation, which made them lose their habitat. Moreover, the passage of virus from animals to humans is easy because of intensive breeding which makes it easier for the virus to move between species; as with the H1N1 flu. It has also been proven that the coronavirus causes higher mortality rates in regions with a high rate of air pollution.

What does the future hold for us ?

In Australia, temperatures and droughts peaked in 2019 and researchers have shown that if we do nothing about global warming, these high levels of heat will be the norm in a few decades. The forest allows the absorption of carbon dioxide (CO2). This is why the Amazon constituting the largest forest in the world is called “the lungs of the Earth”. Unfortunately, when the dynamics of tree mortality intensifies, the trees will no longer absorb but reject this CO2, and therefore contribute to global warming. Evidently, this leads to a devastating loop and therefore the death of thousands of plant, animal and human species.

If we continue to poach and eat wild animals more and more diseases will be transmitted to humans. In addition the food chain would collapse if animals were to disappear. And if we continue to consume as much meat as we currently do, and therefore encourage intensive farming, more viruses will be transmitted and cause more and more deadly pandemics.

We saw that nature takes over during confinement, animals have reclaimed the territory of humans, and pollution has slowed down. It is therefore possible to limit our impact on nature. It is therefore more than necessary to take drastic measures if we want to prevent the extinction of species. It is necessary to stop overconsumption, to stop animal exploitation, to fight against overheating. If no action is taken, thousands of plant species will disappear causing the death of the animals, we will face extreme weather, which will slowly destroy the human species, starting with those who already suffer from it, the poorest.

by Aimée Niau Lacordaire

Photo Credits

Koala, Mathias Appel, CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0)

Fire, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Southeast Region U.,S. Fish and Wildlife Service Southeast Regio, Public Domain Mark 1.0

Sheep, Bernard Spragg. NZ, CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0)

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YNTR – February 2020: Greece’s floating wall, protests in Chile, Trump’s impeachment, and more

EditorChief — Sun, 23 Feb 2020 16:41:50 +0000

Greece. The Greek government has proposed to set up a floating wall to stop refugees from reaching the island Lesbos by blocking the main sea route between Greece and Turkey. Around 20 000 refugees are currently being held in a camp on Lesbos with a holding capacity of less than 3 000 people. According to Vasileia Digidiki and Jacqueline Bhabha of The Guardian, the floating-wall project is a sign of the failure of European migration policies.

Chile. The protests in Chile, which began in October 2019, are continuing despite concessions made by the government, including the drafting of a new constitution, submission for approval of which is scheduled for late 2021 provided that the required public spending can be afforded. While the concessions might have appeased some Chileans, others continue to protest against inequalities within Chile, as well as against the human rights violations and police repression (having led to the death of several protesters) they accuse the government of.

Switzerland. While most attendants of the 2020 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, which took place in January, arrived by private jet, a group of climate activists set out on a three-day protests march from Landquart to Davos. The march was one of several protests organised around the World Economic Forum to raise awareness on climate change and put pressure on politicians and big companies to take climate action.

USA. In a vote on the US president’s impeachment, Donald Trump has been acquitted of charges of impeachable crimes laid against him as all Republican members of the Senate except Mitt Romney voted against Trump’s impeachment. With the presidential elections in November, however, the long-term impact of the impeachment process remains to be seen.

Great Britain/ EU. On 31 January 2020, Great Britain left the European Union (EU). The European Parliament voted with a majority for the Brexit contract. While the Brexit party was celebrating the decision, the majority of delegates in Brussels were less enthusiastic about the development and some wore scarves with the writing “United in Diversity” on them. As a good-bye, they stood up together and, holding each others hands, sang the European anthem. During the one year transition period following the Brexit there will be a lot of work and (re-)negotiations to be done.

Australia. The Australian bushfires of the past months have fuelled the debate on climate change. Climate activists organised big demonstrations in major cities in Australia, but also worldwide, to protest against the coal mining industry, emission politics and for more climate action. The Australian prime minister Scott Morrison, who was on holidays in Hawaii shortly after the fires started, was widely criticised for his reaction to and handling of the situation, as were other Australian politicians. Morrison admitted that climate change could have a part in the events, but also said this is not the time to discuss it since there was an emergency to deal with. The public (domestically and internationally) expressed a lot of support, respect and empathy for the firefighters as well as critique of the government, because the firefighters do not receive enough resources.

Photo Credits

pi-IMG_5623, zhrefch, CC0 1.0

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Action beyond protest: “A different world is possible”

Merle Emrich — Sat, 22 Feb 2020 15:46:30 +0000

Much like any other polytheistic society, the Ancient Greeks had a god.dess for just about any important aspect of their lives. One of them was Adrestia, the goddess of revolt, just retribution and balance between good and evil. Her name translates to “the inescapable”, and if we look at history social conflict and revolts are indeed a recurring theme – from the French Revolution and Gandhi’s Salt March to the Monday Demonstrations that helped bring down the Berlin Wall. More recent waves of protests, including Occupy Wall Street, the growing environmental movement and social justice movements from Lebanon over France to Chile, demonstrate that revolt and protests are still as inescapable as a means to bring about social and political change as it seemed to be in Ancient Greece.

Cathartic protest

First and foremost, protests are a form of opposition against an actual, planned or feared course of action. As such it can be “an end in itself”, a form of catharsis that resolves social tensions, and citizens’ frustration and discontent. Protest marches, rallies and vigils have a function as sign of objection, they are a means of communicating to the authorities the discontent or wish for change of the population, or at least a part of it. As such they also offer a platform to blow off steam, to voice anger, fear and hope, to start a conversation with people who share the same opinion, or who oppose it. Catharsis in protest can come through songs and shouts, to chance encounters with fellow protesters, or merely the knowledge to have been part of it, to have done something about the issue at hand.

Especially when protest alone does not lead to change, however, it becomes necessary to channel its cathartic energy into the development of new strategies and finding solutions and alternatives to the present condition. As philosopher Auguste Comte put it, “nothing really essential and enduring can be accomplished in the practical fold when its theoretical implications are not clearly worked out, or are at least well on the way to solution.”

“We must be able to […] propose alternatives”

In France, the organisers of the Vrai Débat are trying to capture the energy and ideas of the Gilets jaunes movement. As a reaction to Macron’s grand débat, they collected ideas and comments online on issues people consider important, followed by a series of deliberative assemblies in several cities throughout the country starting in mid-June 2019. “They allow us to combine democracy with social movement”, says participant Anthony Brault. “You prioritise and think together, we will create a political programme that will not replace the Gilets jaunes but can be useful for them.” During the assemblies between 15 and 40 people work on the most popular propositions for two days. They are divided by topic and small working groups analyse them to sum up the most frequent ideas and arguments in a concise document. “We must be able to exchange ideas”, explains another participant, Daniel, “to propose alternatives.”

In a similar manner climate camps aim at providing a platform for discussion, networking and exploring alternatives. One of these climate camps takes place every year in the Rhineland, Germany where there are three coal pits and five power plants that together are responsible for a third of Germany’s carbon dioxide emissions. The Klimacamp im Rheinland combines Ende Gelände’s civil disobedience actions against coal mining with trying out “tomorrow’s society – social, ecological and based on grassroots democracy”. Cultural programmes as well as courses, workshops, panel discussions on topics “from theoretical analysis of climate change to practical stuff like building a windmill” are organised, and the camp is structured based on anti-authoritarian self-organisation.

Climate of change

In the same region the Hambach Forest is located, an ancient forest that was supposed to be cut down to expand a coal mine, and even though the forest is now supposed to remain it’s future is still not guaranteed as water that sustains the trees needs to be pumped out of the ground to prevent the flooding of the coal pits. There, environmental activists are combining protest with the development of alternative ways of living and organising society in a similar, yet more permanent, way as the climate camps. To prevent the destruction of the forest, the activists began to occupy the forest in 2012. They built tree houses to make eviction more difficult, and on a meadow nearby a communal kitchen, a building for assemblies, a library and a museum was set up.

780 kilometres away, the ZAD (zone to defend) of Notre-Dame-des-Landes (ZAD NDDL) that began as an occupation to prevent the destruction of 1650 hector of agricultural land and wetland for the construction of an airport has become a social project of an alternative form of structuring collective life, a vision of what society could look like. This shift of the ZAD as a means of protest and resistance to an end in itself has resulted in the Zadists’ refusal to leave the area even when the airport project was abandoned by the government in 2018. Over the course of its existence since 2000, the ZAD NDDL has become a political space “in which social and ecological experiments take place” within a framework of “self-governance, egalitarian sharing of tasks, hospitality, gratuity, and work without hierarchical subordination”.

“A different world is possible”

In an interview published on mediapart’s participative blog, activist and Gilet jaune Geneviève Legay said: “We must think of utopia as something attainable. Otherwise I would not continue to fight, if I thought it wasn’t possible. And if people hadn’t fought for utopias, we wouldn’t have the rights we have today. […] a different world is possible, it is necessary to build it together.” The same is emphasised by writer, director and environmental activist Cyril Dion. To bring about change we need NGOs and Zadists, civil disobedience and guerilla gardening as well as social entrepreneurs and novelists.

To increase the likelihood that “the inescapable” revolt results in the envisaged change and does not end with its first cathartic infant steps, a common effective strategy is necessary. Thus, in the beginning, according to Dion, is a set of questions that need to be answered: “Can we hope to find solutions within our democracies or not? Must the strategy to stop the destruction and the warming [of the planet] be political, citizen-based or both? Can it be done without using violence?”

by Merle Emrich

Photo Credits

Ende Gelaende 20119, Besetzung nder RWE Strukturen im rheinischen Braunkohlerevier: Der Goldene Finger bricht aus der Fridays for Future Demonstration bei Hochneukirch aus und stürmt über die Kante in den Tagebau Garzweiler. Alle Bagger werden abgeschalte, David Klammer, CC BY-NC 2.0

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Extinction Rebellion: Creating stoppage to move climate politics forward

Merle Emrich — Sun, 29 Sep 2019 15:49:03 +0000

Extinction Rebellion (XR) is an international movement founded in the UK in November 2018. Their aim is to evoke social and political change in regards to climate change by means of peaceful civil disobedience. Extinction Rebellion’s protest is centred around three demands: the declaration of a climate emergency, actions to protect biodiversity and reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2025, and the creation of Citizens’ Assemblies.

In early August, Extinction Rebellion Copenhagen brought traffic on Holmens Bro – located between parliament and the climate ministry – to a halt for twenty-four hours.

Two weeks later, Extinction Rebellion Skåne called for a ‘Nordic Uprising’. Activists from several countries came together to ‘flood the streets’ of Malmö in protest. Fourteen activist were taken into custody. They were not charged and the police released them in the morning.

by Merle Emrich

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“The Sea Level Is Rising and So Are We!”

Nina Kolarzik — Tue, 02 Apr 2019 14:03:48 +0000

Water pollution and contamination, overfishing, floods, rising water temperatures and sea levels, lack of fresh water… Our planet, whose surface is covered by more oceans than continents, is threatened by a rapid change of climate and environmental degradation. In mid-March, thousands of young students all over the globe stood up and fought for the acknowledgement of these threats to our life basis and demanded of world leaders to take action–for the sake of our future.

“1-2-3-4 climate is what we are fighting for, 5-6-7-8 tell the world it’s not too late!”

FridaysforFuture in the UK (Brighton), …

15th of February at 10:40 am, at the clock tower in Brighton, UK. The sun is shining, perfect demonstration weather, people are walking around in T-shirts, even though it is, according to the calendar, winter. The strike will start in 20 minutes, but already a big group of people is gathering, unpacking their posters, talking, giving interviews to curious journalists. Once in a while they break out in spontaneous chants:

“What do want?–Climate action!

When do we want it?–Now!”

With every green traffic light, more people are coming and are welcomed with loud cheering from the crowd.

“Skolstrejk för Klimatet”

… Germany (Erfurt), …

The by now often told story sounds almost magical, how fast the FridaysforFuture movement gained popularity and support. It began with one girl, at that point 15 year-old Greta Thunberg. She started missing school and instead striked every day in front of the Swedish Parliament in Stockholm, next to her a self-made sign, while informing people with flyers about the dangers of climate change. After the general elections in September she continued striking every Friday until now, planning to continue until Sweden has met the goals of the Paris Agreement. This inspired students in other European countries and beyond to organise their own strikes. The movement quickly picked up speed. Latest, after Greta was holding a speech at the annual UN Climate Conference at the end of 2018 in Katowice the world took notice of her. Through demanding cooperation instead of competition, she is now nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Not that it would have always been easy. Greta answers accusations about being paid, used by others or not writing her speeches herself. Others criticise that students are missing classes. Politicians threaten with penalties for those students who are missing out on their education, arguing that children would not know enough about how the world functions and should leave politics to the adults. Others, like Greta’s headmaster, a range of university professors, scientists, politicians, and a wide public morally support their students.

The movement’s message is not about knowing it better than adults. It is about reacting. To treat it as the crisis it is, even though it has been unfolding over centuries. To make the concerns of the future generations regarding the climate a priority.

Several organisations, protest movements and famous personalities exist that take action for a change in climate politics. What is different about this one?

“Only one climate, only one chance!”

The first particularity that catches the eye is the age of the protesters: it is a demonstration of children. Parents, who are joining their kids raise the average age about years. The majority consists of the youth–from primary school to university age. She is “just a child” was said about Greta Thunberg. World leaders should not forget or underestimate the power of children. And especially in issues as those regarding the environment, where the future counts more than the present, they have to say something, engage in politics and are not the disinterested as sometimes referred to. Politics is oriented towards the interests of ageing societies, while the students standing on the streets these Fridays will have to live with the policies made for a different generation. This is why, beneath climate action, a voting right from the age of 16 is one of the main demands of the crowd.

Even more impressive is the energy of the kids. When you are standing in the crowd of young people, it is hard to believe that the accusation the students would only enjoy a day without school has any solid foundation. They are standing there for a reason; because they are concerned about their future. The effort they put in designing their colourful posters is telling: they want to be able to do something and not only listen the news of hazardous weather catastrophes. It seems like Greta has shown not only world leaders that they have to act, but also the Youth. We need to show that we care about our future, because when we are loud enough about it others will have to listen. One person and her endurance was enough to trigger thousands to raise their voices. These young people are aware of their privileged situation in Europe–and they don’t rest on it but demand from themselves to take action.

… Sweden (Malmö), …

“Many people don’t seem to understand why we are doing this”, says one of the speakers. They value their education, but want to have the right education. The environment and climate change should not be marginalised in schools, where it is only mentioned occasionally in geography lessons. Instead, it should be a priority and an issue addressed in many subjects, move to the centrality it deserves. The strike in Brighton does not only involve noise-making on the streets but also workshops to learn something from this day. Without teaching about the seriousness of climate change and solving approaches, future generations might not be much different from the present ones and will not save the planet.

“My arms are tired”

15th of March, a Friday again. Around seven months after Greta’s first strike, the movement has reached its peak to date with a world wide strike: the girl who started it is now joined by around 1.4 million students in 128 countries around the globe.

The weather is less good than last month, but even more people have been coming. The youngest participants are likely to be less than ten years old but are chanting like everyone else. Some parents are accompanying their children, you can spot teachers and an old lady in support of her grandchildren’s future. People are coming out of their houses and shops to watch and applaud. One man says: “Well done, kids.”

The energy of the children has no limit. When it is too silent for a few seconds, one person starts chanting and the rest responds. Some are angry shouts against certain politicians, others rhymes for climate action. When the crowd reaches the park, you can finally see the true amount of people–and they are getting more.

… and France (Toulouse).

The one or another political group is trying to use the dynamics for their cause. But the movement itself does not belong to any organisation or institution. As an example of mobilising modern activism it arose from nowhere–and might disappear when its purpose is fulfilled. A community for a moment, united to draw attention on the human impact on our environment. And attention is something they certainly attracted as the biggest climate protest ever to take place so far.

One of my favourite signs says at the back that the student is tired of holding it. It is time to act, for children and for adults.

Greta Thunberg became vegan, travels only by train and convinced her family to do the same. But she knows that strong political and economic actions are needed to bring about the necessary change. Not only personal hope or movements like the “FridaysforFuture” are important, but especially action.

And no matter what pessimists say about the usefulness of these students’ actions: when politicians start to get worried because students are now missing one day of school weekly, it means they notice that something needs to happen. Until then, the students might not come back.

by Nina Kolarzik

Photo Credits

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Geoengineering: Buying Time

Merle Emrich — Sun, 24 Mar 2019 19:05:28 +0000

If Fridays For Future has shown two things, they are that climate change is a serious issue and we are running out of time, and that the demands for change make adults, especially those in power positions, incredibly uncomfortable – perhaps not even because they believe the concerns of the youth to be unfounded but because they now that they are right. Yet, it is not only the youth that politicians try to brush off. For years, scientist who might hold the key, not to solving climate change but, to buying us some time have been – and still are – ignored.

Desperate Times

The Paris Agreement was celebrated as a landmark in the struggle to stop climate change. Yet, Climate Interactive predicts that even if all signatories would adhere to the aims agreed upon in the agreement, we can expect a temperature rise of 3.3 degrees by 2100. And even before that, possibly by 2030, scientists argue, the Arctic sea ice will disappear completely during summer. Already in January 2017, in the middle of winter, the growth of sea ice stopped in the Arctic and in other regions the ice cap even retreated.

Whereas the melting ice of Antarctica and Greenland affects sea levels, the melting of sea ice has different impacts. Since ice reflects sunlight and covers part of the sea’s surface, the reduction of sea ice will contributing to the warming of the seas allowing the water to store more heat and resulting in a local rise in temperature. This then causes more glaciers as well as greenhouse gas-storing permafrost to melt, increases general global warming and might even lead to disrupted weather patterns in other parts of the world beside destroying the habitat of many animals such as the Arctic cod and polar bears. To prevent this, Dr Hunt of the University of Cambridge says ‘[w]e have to be carbon zero by 2035. […] That means no flying, no container shipping, electric cars, cutting gas to our homes … All this has to happen worldwide in the next 20 years.’

Desperate Measures

There might be a way, however, to buy us some time: geoengineering. The logic behind this approach is that since we impact the environment in a negative way causing climate change, it should be possible to at least slow down, if not stop or reverse, it by impacting the environment with intention. We have reached a point at which climate concerns require our full attention and we should do our best to move towards a more environmentally friendly society. Especially with many not willing to commit to giving their best, geoengineering might prove a vital tool to delay the almost inevitable.

And yet, there still are sceptics. ‘They think we are playing God with the climate’, Dr Hunt explains, ‘but we have been playing God with the climate for 200 years by burning fossil fuels,” he says. “Just because we have messed it up it doesn’t mean we can’t fix it.’ Important to note is that geoengineering is not a carte blanche to blindly continue on the destructive way we are on. Geoengineering without more fundamental changes in environmental politics is much ‘like a car accelerating towards a brick wall. We are not accelerating as fast as we were, but we are also not putting our foot on the brake.’

Refreezing the Arctic

The melting Arctic ice is only one of many climate change related problems. It is simultaneously one of many problems that scientists try to tackle with geoengineering. Their approach is based on the question: What if we could refreeze the Arctic? At the moment, the ice cap in many places is no thicker than two or three metres with a tendency to become even thinner due to global warming. If it were possible to add a couple of layers to the sea ice during the winter months, it might be possible to prevent them vanishing during the summer.

The suggested method to create an extra metre of Arctic ice is seemingly simple. Giant wind-powered pumps on top of buoys would be placed in the Arctic Sea. There, they would transfer water from the sea to the top of the ice where it freezes and thickens the ice layer. To achieve this in 10% of the Arctic, the minimum of what is needed to make a difference, an estimated number of 10 million water pumps would be needed. In addition, the idea to build large mounds on the sea floor is circulating. These mounds would be constructed out of materials such as sand or rocks with the purpose to prevent warm water from melting glaciers from the bottom up. Yet, it is uncertain if this technique could be applied to an area as large as the Arctic.

Save the Earth, Save Ourselves

From refreezing the Arctic, over sucking carbon over the air to blocking sun rays with big mirrors in space, there is no lack of creative ideas in the field of geoengineering. Another idea to counteract the reduction of sea ice includes artificially whitening the Arctic. The plan entertains the thought of using light-coloured aerosol particles to reflect sun rays. Alternatively, water could potentially be used to create sunlight-reflecting clouds over the Arctic by distributing the water in the atmosphere above.

Yet, whether it is chemically reversing the acidification of the oceans or copying volcanic eruptions by injecting stratospheric sulfate aerosols into the atmosphere to cool down the Earth, most geoengineering approaches share a common problem. Due to potential unanticipated factors that might have a counterproductive effect more research is needed. For instance, if we were to try to reduce the world climate by two degrees and accidentally end up lowering it by four degrees, we might have to deal with a whole new set of environmental crises.

With time running out, what we need is more awareness of the existence of these approaches, especially among politicians, so that there can be more research and an eventual implementation of relatively risk-free geoengineering projects. However, this is not nearly enough. We have to finally start recognising climate change as the threat it is and draw the necessary consequences not only in words but in action – and by ‘we’ I mean not only society in general but especially those in a power position enabling them to enforce change. If not to save the Earth, which will most likely survive us anyway, then for ourselves.

by Merle Emrich

Photo Credits

Global Climate Change, Jas n, CC BY-NC 2.0

Iceberg 6, DorkyMum, CC BY-Nc-ND 2.0

What If Global Temperatures Rose by 4 Degrees Celsius?, klem@s, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

blue ice, mariusz kluzniak, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Climate change protesters march in Paris, Jeanne Menjoulet, CC BY 2.0

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Antarctica: The Forgotten Continent

Nina Kolarzik — Sun, 30 Dec 2018 22:06:07 +0000

Everybody knows who the Arctic belongs to: Santa Claus, no question. But what about the Antarctic? In comparison to the Arctic, it is a continent, way bigger, and was never a place to live for humans. But still, nations are competing for Antarctic territory. Why and with what consequences?

The Uniqueness of the Antarctic Ice

The Antarctic continent is a unique piece of land in many aspects. Its special landscape, flora and fauna attracts scientists from all over the world. And also in the political sphere it has an exceptional status. Since humans have never lived in the Antarctic, it has no native population and nation states were never formed. This does not mean that political interests would be absent from Antarctica. Because of its special situation, it has become a playground for testing political arrangements.

Everyone Gets a Slice

During the times of human discoveries and expeditions, the Antarctic was seen as a significant challenge for science and nations, which led to the famous race 1911 to be the first person at the South Pole between Amundsen (Norway) and Scott (UK).

This part of the world became interesting again during the Cold War–but not in terms of exploitation between the superpowers, as it was with the race into space or to the Mariana Trench. Instead, scientific research in the Antarctic expanded at the end of the 50s, built upon the exchange of knowledge within the international scientific community.

Naturally, some conflicts and disagreements existed, but in 1961 the Antarctic Treaty was created and signed, which fixed the political neutrality of the Antarctic, as well as that it cannot be used by any military or for the disposal of nuclear waste. For the protection of the Antarctic continent and for peaceful research, international cooperation is necessary, which is why the Treaty puts the discussion about claims aside.

Seven nations had made territorial claims in the Antarctic before 1961: “New Zealand, Australia, France, Norway, the United Kingdom, Chile, and Argentina”. Those got accepted within the Atlantic Treaty (which was central for getting the countries to agree) with the condition, that these claims cannot change and no new claims can be raised. Plus, important for political peace: all countries that signed the treaty but do not possess a territorial claim, have access to the whole Antarctic region. The territorial claims therefore still exist unchanged today, looking on a map like irregular pieces of cake, with one piece unclaimed.

The governance of the Antarctic has always been an example of international communication, understanding and peaceful governance – during the Cold War as well as nowadays, in the absence of an Antarctic government. Countries that engage actively in the Antarctic research meet annually in the framework of the Antarctic Treaty to discuss governance and administrative questions.

The only residents in Antarctica these days are scientists. They come from various countries and work in research stations of their governments, whereby they are an example of international cooperation and understanding, within their scientific work as well as private life in the Antarctic.

The White Continent Becomes Interesting – Future Challenges

With the exhaustion of the earth’s natural resources, new interest in the Antarctic has been rising. Huge reserves of natural resources such as coal, oil and minerals are hidden under the ice that covers the Antarctic continent. With the contemporary technology, it would not make sense economically to get through to them, but in the future it certainly will. Furthermore, bioprospecting found with the wildlife in Antarctica make a new potential source for Genetics and Biochemicals.

For purposes of environmental protection, mining is forbidden; as is fishing. The question is, whether this will change and whether the Antarctic Treaty can be preserved under the new pressures. The rapidly growing tourism and the environmental questions are the biggest threats for the Antarctic itself and create challenges for its governance. The Antarctic ice is particularly sensitive to climate change and further melting will uncover under the ice’s hidden resources. The consequences might be a new heated-up competition among countries to save the access to these resources. The situation raises questions about who the resources belong to, and whether the Antarctic treaty will be able to govern and make decisions then.

The Antarctic Treaty was, until now, very successful in keeping peace, science as the priority of activity, and protecting the environment from exploitation. But the agreement on the ban of mining will end in 2048. Illegal fishing exists already and the question is whether states will, in the future, ignore the agreements that the peace in the Antarctic is built upon.

Questions to Ask

The pressure on the Antarctic will environmentally and politically increase in the decades to come. This article does not try to make predictions, since it is hard to foresee what will happen. It rather wants to pull back this often forgotten continent into everyone’s mind and point to the questions that will determine its future and that we should pay attention to:

Can the Antarctic Treaty be preserved as it functions today? Or does it need to be changed? What shape should it take? How can the international community react in case of treaty violations? Should the Antarctic belong to humans at all or should it be freed from our will to rule every part of the earth? Is it reasonable to uphold tourism in the Antarctic? These are questions to think about, that will determine the future of the Antarctic.

by Nina Kolarzik

Photo Credits

Ship in Antarctica, Ronald Woan, CC BY-NC 2.0

Research station in Antarctica, Ronald Woan, CC BY-NC 2.0

topographic map Antarctica, GRID Arendal, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

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Atlantis Submerging – Building a Future in the Pacific

Anna Bernard — Mon, 03 Apr 2017 11:00:11 +0000

“In those histories, half tradition,

With their mythic thread of gold,

We shall find the name and story

Of thy cities fair and old.

[—]

Every heart has such a country,

Some Atlantis loved and lost;

Where upon the gleaming sand-bars

Once life’s fitful ocean tossed.

[—]

Now above this lost Atlantis

Roll the restless seas of Time.”

The Lost Atlantis, Edith Willis Linn Forbes

The impacts of climate change are revealing themselves at a varying pace around the world. The inevitable changes in the world the way we have known it will produce a multitude of responses amongst nations. We are witnessing the shaping of a new world order very different to what we have imagined. In this article I will examine the case of climate refugees in the context of the Pacific Islands, where low-lying nations are forced to consider such seemingly far-fetched adaptation strategies as buying land on foreign soil in order to secure territory for the relocation of the population when their home islands will unavoidably submerge as sea levels continue to rise. The story unfolding is that of countries loved and lost, resembling the mythical tale of Atlantis. I will specifically look at the case of Kiribati and its climate evacuation plans.

Climate refugees

According to various security experts, the risks related to unchecked climate change include extreme risks to food security, elevated risk of terrorism as states fail, and unprecedented migration that would overwhelm international assistance, among other factors compromising human and national security. In accordance, climate change has been called the greatest security threat of the 21st century.

According to worst-case scenarios, over 200 million people could easily become displaced by climate change. Numerically and geographically, South and East Asia, including the Pacific small island states are particularly vulnerable to events leading to large-scale forced migration. This is because sea level rise will have a disproportionate effect on the vast masses living in low-lying areas.

This forced migration triggered by climate events would affect development negatively in various ways. There would be an increasing pressure on urban infrastructure and services, which would undermine economic growth and increase the risk of conflict. Forced migration would result in worsened health, educational and social indicators among climate migrants themselves.

The restless seas rolling over Kiribati

The Pacific Island nation of Kiribati is one of the first countries in danger of becoming completely uninhabitable due to climate change. Kiribati is composed of 33 atolls, which are ring-shaped coral reefs encircling a lagoon. Atolls are by nature low-lying, and have a high ratio of coastline to land area, which makes them extremely vulnerable to various problems related to climate change, such as sea-level rise, shore erosion, fresh water contamination and disastrous storm surges. Kiribati has already experienced some of its islets vanishing into the Pacific. In addition, Kiribati is threatened by the rising sea temperatures which forms a severe risk to the coral reefs sustaining the atolls and their islands.

There have been several other attempts at implementing adaptation strategies, at varying, often poor, degrees of success. These strategies have included the construction of sea walls and water management plants, as well as installing rainwater-harvesting systems. However, such measures are not financially realistic for resource-poor and aid-dependent countries like Kiribati. To implement a reliable climate adaptation strategy would require consistent, long-term funding for which development aid is insufficient.

Thus, the government of Kiribati has promoted the concept of “migration with dignity”, in which residents are guided towards the option of considering moving abroad if they are equipped with employable skills. The Kiribati government has in fact launched a programme called the Education for Migration programme intended to make the Kiribati population more attractive as immigrants by focusing on enforcing their skill sets. Another novel idea has surfaced in which international refugee law is applied for climate refugees who are forced from their homes due to the consequences of climate change.

The more radical step has been in preparation for an extreme humanitarian evacuation: Kiribati bought approximately 20 km2 of land in Fiji, as a potential refuge. Fiji’s higher elevation and more stable shoreline make it less vulnerable than the islands of Kiribati. The former president of Kiribati, Anote Tong, who was in charge of the Fiji purchase, intended it to be a signal for the rest of the world in the form of a cry for attention regarding the predicament the Pacific island states are in.

A lost Utopia or climate extinction?
As the effects of climate change are revealed, nations like Kiribati are forced to prepare for the ultimate fight for survival. According to scientists’ predictions a significant portion of Kiribati will be uninhabitable within only a few decades. The question is not merely about safely relocating the biomass of the nation – its population – but there should be an existential urgency regarding the preservation of their national identity, culture and traditions. As we continue this haphazard and blasé approach towards climate change, climate migration and climate evacuation, we are possibly turning a blind eye towards the dawning era of de facto human climate extinction regarding cultures and communities. In the case of Kiribati and the other low-lying Pacific island states, only time will show if the future generations of the Pacific will have mere wistful myths and a restless sea of time rolling over their beloved countries and nations.

Anna Bernard

Photo 1: 2012. Kiribati Grunge Flag by Nicolas Raymond, Attribution 3.0 Generic (CC BY 3.0);Photo 2: 2009. Millenium atoll by The TerraMar Project, Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0); Photo 3: 2011. As an extremely low-lying country, surrounded by vast oceans, Kiribati is at risk from the negative effects of climate change, such as sea-level rise and storm surges, by Erin Magee / DFAT, Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)

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