Fallacies and Facts About Our Feverish Planet
Swati Thiyagarajan
Our planet has a fever. It’s sweating and sick. Last year was the hottest year on record, with average temperatures rising past the 1.5ºC threshold agreed upon by the 195 signatories to the Paris Agreement.
Islands such as Vanuatu, the world’s most vulnerable country to climate change, and Kiribati and Tuvalu, are in the eye of the climate-change storm. Literally. Rising sea levels and violent storms are threatening to destroy homes and residents face the reality of becoming climate-change refugees. The rest of the world could face a similar fate – but there is still time.
The science is clear: our heating planet is directly linked to human behaviour.
Yet, some people don’t believe this. While they don’t deny that our climate is changing, they see it as a ‘natural cycle’ that has nothing to do with us. How wrong they are. Yes, there have historically been large variations in the Earth’s climate. Geological records show that this has occurred very slowly, over thousands of millions of years. These natural cycles are caused by a trio of changes in the Earth’s orbit around the Sun, which affect the amount of solar heat that reaches Earth’s surface. If our changing climate right now was in a natural cycle, then Earth should be going through a cooling phase. And it’s not.
In addition to being the hottest year on record, 2024 was also the year when all the big climate meetings ended in deadlocks. It was a year when several countries and big companies walked back many of their promises to reduce their carbon emissions.
It was also the year the United States elected into power Donald Trump, one of the most strident non-believers in human-induced climate change. True to form and campaign promise, he has ordered the United States – a historic polluter and emitter of carbon – to pull out of the Paris Agreement. He recently even signed an order to bring back plastic straws. All the while, Trump sings the anthem of oil companies: ‘Drill, baby, drill.’
For many of us who see daily evidence of human-induced climate change, biodiversity loss and plastic and toxic pollution, it is a time of rising disbelief. When faced with this constant denial, what do we say to counteract it? How do we impress upon people and governments the need for urgent and consistent action?
It’s not about whether the weather in your part of the world is cold right now or getting colder, therefore disproving a warming Earth.
It’s about the average mean getting warmer. As in, the warmer temperatures exceed the cooling, creating a warmer planet on the whole.
Even if we stay on different sides of the human-induced climate debate, we can all agree that this planet is a complex organism of living systems including us. We know so little about how these great forces interact and react, so doesn’t it make sense to approach with the precautionary principle? This enables decision-makers to adopt precautionary measures when scientific evidence about an environmental or human health hazard is uncertain and the stakes are high.
The stakes have never been higher.
The only people human-induced climate deniability is ‘helping’ are the corporates. Fifty-seven companies are responsible for more than 70% of the world’s emissions. Profits are being prioritised over people and nature while the oil and gas lobby is fighting to suppress facts. The corporate world would like you to believe that capitalism is turning green, meanwhile we have emitted more carbon in the last two years than any other time in the past. We use more coal and oil now than ever before even though it looks like we are growing the use of renewables.
All our processes are still dependent on coal and oil-heavy energy generation. Words such as ‘sustainability’ and ‘restoration of biodiversity’ are being used by companies to green wash their massive extraction of rare minerals.
It does feel bleak, especially with the rise of kleptocracy and protection of personal wealth by leaders who control policy. However, we the people still have potent weapons. We have our wallets, our voices, and our votes.
And the world is seeing individuals, scientists, indigenous peoples, conservationists, non-governmental organisations, local communities and small groups and youth groups all trying to make a difference by working on restoration, protection and regeneration of nature and changing their lifestyles. Corporate greed and the excesses of capitalism are being questioned.
It is David versus Goliath, but as Margaret Mead famously said: ‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed individuals can change the world. In fact, it’s the only thing that ever has.’
Intro photo by Phil Kallahar.