The following is an excerpt from a joint statement by 18 Catholic development agencies, including the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, in response to a special report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which concludes that the world has 12 years to limit climate change catastrophe. This article was published in the November-December 2018 issue of NewsNotes.
... “Limiting global warming to 1.5°C is a matter of survival for all and it is feasible through bold political actions: the barriers to fighting climate change are political! Now more than ever we need leaders to acknowledge and take actions to curb our current emissions trajectory. It is a moral imperative reminding us firstly of the dramatic risks for people and the planet, which are already experienced by the most vulnerable. Our current emissions have impacts such as the loss of biodiversity, the forced displacement of millions of people, the loss of yields threatening to food safety, rising sea levels, and ocean warming that threatens marine life with direct consequences of fisheries.
“We are calling for a complete paradigm shift: climate change cannot be tackled in isolation.”
“...a deep and rapid shift in our food and energy systems, supported by structural lifestyle and societal changes, could greatly contribute to limiting the rise in average global temperatures to 1.5°C.” ... “According to the IPCC report only a small number of pathways to 1.5°C that don’t involve carbon removal exists.”...
“We must phase out fossil fuels and switch towards renewable energy systems.”...
Read more at http://bit.ly/12YearsToAct