sizzling
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
Across the world, we are sizzling. The UK is reaching record high temperatures while Spain, France, and Greece are actively burning. In the US, wildfires rage in 12 states. In January, the southernmost part of Latin America suffered its worst heatwave in years, and in March India recorded the hottest temperature ever, the same month which saw the recording of the highest worldwide positive temperature anomaly. The Democratic Republic of Congo, meanwhile, might no longer have forests in 10 years.
The late Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh spoke of interconnectedness: the idea that everything eventually connects. Perhaps nothing illuminates the interconnectedness of humanity more than the global climate crisis, which knows no borders and is affecting us all—but not, as with many things, equally.
The distribution of the ecological and human consequences of the crisis illustrates how cause and effect are not necessarily felt by the same actor.
The Middle East and North Africa, for example, have contributed about 3 percent of total global CO2 emissions, but will be some of the most severely affected regions. The African continent has contributed the least to global fossil fuel emissions, but is already severely impacted (including severe drought, flooding, or heat waves).
Climate change also has disparate effects on people within countries — but also policies that seek to address the crisis. Policies to address two of the greatest and most interconnected crises of our time—climate change and rising cost of living — can have disproportionate effects on lower-income households and vulnerable groups. As the cost of living increases, some can afford air conditioning to mitigate the severity of the heat, while others observe with horror how the price of daily products at the supermarket have soared. Looking ahead to winter, we are already hearing calls to ration gas in Europe.
Decisions being made now in Europe and the US to address the effects of these multiple crises (energy, cost of living, climate) are going to have impacts well beyond our present moment and the Global North. STrides had been made to address the climate crisis in recent years, but the war in Ukraine and the soaring prices are weakening governments’ commitment to climate goals. It seems as if energy security, poverty reduction, and climate are treated as separate rather than interrelated.
In May, European Institutions presented the REPowerEU Plan, to rapidly reduce European dependence on “Russian fossil fuels by fast forwarding the clean transition and joining forces to achieve a more resilient energy system and a true Energy Union.” Yet just two weeks ago, as the cost of living crisis continued to deepen, with the continued urgency to find alternatives to Russian gas, and member states’ competing energy interests as the background, the EU’s new green taxonomy labeled gas and nuclear as clean energies. This decision diverts financing away from renewables and prolongs dependence on gas, a fossil fuel, whose principal component is methane and which speeds up global warming. According to Bloomberg, “The EU has maintained that its goal is to offer coal-reliant member states an easier transition path to renewable energy by making lower-carbon options more affordable. But critics counter that the approach brings political agendas to what was supposed to be a science-based framework.” In addition, Austria, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Poland, and the Czech Republic have recently extended the life of their coal-fired power plants.
Meanwhile, the US is among the highest CO2 emitters per capita. President Joe Biden ran on a platform that included American leadership in the response to the climate crisis. A few weeks ago, the US Supreme Court limited the powers of the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate carbon emissions. This month, efforts to pass an already watered down climate bill failed.
The chief reason for hope and despair is the same: the main obstacle to resolving this challenge is political, not technical. It is both a political and a collective action problem. From the European perspective, as a study from the European Council on Foreign Relations suggests, “member states accept the logic of placing clean energy sources at the centre of the EU’s transition away from dependence on Russia – and that some are already cooperating to do so. However, they will need to strengthen this effort at every turn through political leadership, mutual peer pressure, the pooling of resources (to create economies of scale), and statements of support for investment in energy efficiency and in renewable and clean energy.”
Bar the United States, climate change is not a topic that is - yet - polarized or largely contentious (and even in the US there is more nuance than is sometimes perceived). Perhaps because traditionally it has not been very salient (across the globe, generally it has not been the top priority issue for the public or most prominent topic in public debate). This means that the public opinion basis on which support for climate policies must be built is more conducive than on other matters. According to a recent study in 20 of the most emitting countris, three key concerns determine support for a given climate policy (or lack thereof): effectiveness, will it hurt my household's finances?, and will it hurt the poor & lower-income?.
Tackling the climate crisis ultimately requires interconnectedness: considering the differential causes, responsibilities, and consequences of the crisis as much as systematically connecting it to the other issues of our time. If policies to tackle the cost of living crisis result in green measures taking a back seat, we endanger our ability to respond to the climate crisis even further. But responding to the cost of living crisis is of utmost importance and not doing so would endanger us all but mostly those who are most vulnerable and also most likely to suffer the negative consequences of the climate crisis.
In Other News:
In good climate news, the African Court on Human and People’s Rights has ruled that Kenya must pay the Indigenous Ogiek people reparations for decades of illegal evictions from their ancestral land. (follow academic activist Joycelyn Longdon for more climate good news).
Italian PM Mario Draghi has resigned. While Italy has a convoluted history of continuous elections, this resignation comes at a particularly tumultuous time as Draghi was perceived not only as a strong leader both in Italy and in Europe. Georgia Meloni, leader of the extreme far right Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy) is the favorite to take over as prime minister.
Good Clothes, Fair Pay is a campaign demanding living wage legislation across the garment, textile and footwear sector. 1 million signatures from EU citizens are needed to push for legislation that requires companies to conduct living wage due diligence in their supply chains. If you are a EU passport holder, please consider this campaign.
And if you need some respite, I recommend Apartamento magazine. It’s replete of interviews with artists, architects, writers… and the way they live their lives.
Connecting the Dots: Musings on Bridging and Belonging is a bi-monthly column by Míriam Juan-Torres. In it, Míriam reflects on current events, connecting the trends and considering the specificities across countries, applying a bridging and belonging lens and translating concepts from academia for a wider audience. In Connecting the Dots, Míriam carefully curates readings and resources to further expand our understanding and shed light on the complexities of our time. Join our mailing list to stay up to date on the latest of the Democracy & Belonging Forum's curated analysis from Miriam and more.
Editor's note: The ideas expressed in this blog are not necessarily those of the Othering & Belonging Institute or UC Berkeley, but belong to the authors.