By: Ava H.
The concept of climate change is actually not a new process within the existence of Earth, as the planet underwent various eras of changing temperatures. However, what sets current climate change apart from previous climate changes is that its rapidness has been initiated by humans, not nature by itself. If humans’ actions are so impactful that it restructured the Earth’s climate, then humans can manifest this same amount of power to analyze these environmental problems in order to reduce the consequences, and achieve systematic change for all cultures facing climate change. Analyzing climate changes throughout different eras can deepen humanity’s understanding on the difference between anthropogenic and natural causes, and how they affect the cultural aspects of the current world.
Over the last few millions of years, high-latitude areas have experienced many different conditions compared to tropical or mid-latitude regions. The Arctic experienced both long periods of warming and cooling cycles initiated by the Earth’s tilt and orbit around the Sun. These changes in solar energy amounts caused feedback loops to occur, where small temperature changes caused there to be larger global levels of carbon dioxide and methane, which accelerated temperatures through a positive feedback system. In fact, ice cores from Antarctica suggest that some of these high-latitude glaciers were 5 degrees celsius more than they are today, which is a quite interesting finding given that current scientists are identifying the Antarctic glaciers to be melting at the fastest rate possible. This warming also affected the neighboring Greenland, as each of these land sectors is interconnected with each other, as temperature changes in one of these areas precedes the same occurrences to happen in the other. This bipolar seesaw pattern causes scenarios in which the Southern Hemisphere is warming while the North Atlantic stays cold, and the Southern Hemisphere is cool as the North Atlantic gets hotter. Such immense temperature changes are bound to deeply affect the habitats of the times, as many animals accustomed to warm temperatures are not able to adapt in time to survive the cold, and vice versa. The extinction of many species in the Antarctic glaciers has permanently altered its biodiversity. Marine biodiversity in the benthic zone has been maintained, since these organisms were not affected by altering sea ice as much as mammal and seabird species did, and did not experience an entirely different ecosystem functioning.
Photo from: UNEP
Anthropogenic climate change has entirely shifted all ecosystems throughout the planet, including the arctic, and have very consequential outcomes to culture as humans know it. Nearly every Arctic ecosystem showcases climate changes, which further exemplifies no area on Earth is safe from human activity. In fact, benthic species, which remained mostly untouched in previous Arctic climate changes, have experienced habitat changes due to diatom and invertebrate assemblages moving away towards communities with warmer water and higher plankonicity. This species migration also contributes to a positive feedback loop that increases air temperatures. As snow and ice are decreasing in the Arctic, hunters and fishers are forced to adapt, and must quickly learn to switch their traditional fishing techniques. As these temperatures continue to increase, sea levels will continue to rise, which threatens prominent cities such as New York to be underwater in a few decades. Many iconic and culturally significant landmarks and habitats will soon disappear, and this close attachment individuals have towards their cultural traditions will cause drastic despair and sadness to such effects of climate change. Humans tend to create a sense of identity around certain places, connecting certain fond memories with friends and a feeling of belonging in regards to that specific place. Because of this human attachment towards places, cultural factors prove to be a significant factor in climate change. If individuals have developed a deep attachment to the community they call home, they will become reluctant to migrate away. This distress can also motivate people to demand climate action, as they strive to maintain their identity associated with their community.
When evaluating climate changes in the past and present, it is important to be careful on how to compare the two, as these are both entirely different worlds. Although the separation of natural climate variables from anthropogenic influences is difficult, it will be interesting to observe how the current rate of global warming will rapidly transform the climate through rapid speeds. The outcomes of previous climate changes can be considered and taken with a grain of salt to aid the predictions in future environmental outcomes, in regards to cultural dimensions especially. Scientists can use these elements from the past to conduct a broad estimate on how various ecosystems will respond to climate change, and how that will affect the current cultures that inhabit these areas.
Due to culture being intricately connected to the risks of climate change, future environmental policies must adopt a cultural factor within them in order to perform effectively. In order to ensure this cultural inclusion to occur, adaptation strategies should be minimized, as they usually promote private interests at the expense of people’s cultural heritage.
Adaptation strategies include gentrification, which is negative as it drives out many vulnerable citizens out of their own community because others want to profit off the potential of that neighborhood rather than investing in its inhabitants. However, these adaptation strategies can suggest the amount of attachment a community has towards their neighborhood, and can suggest how they would act when climate change further threatens their way of life. When people feel that their community is threatened, that may increase that neighborhood’s public participation in adaptation decisions, which could actually lead to various cultural dimensions and perspectives to be deeply considered in multiple scales of decisions.
This type of public engagement can prove to be effective, as developers abandon plans for the Atlantic Coast pipeline and a judge on July 6, 2020 ordered the Dakota Access pipeline to be shut down for additional environmental review, in response to various communities and indigenous tribes expressing their outrage for such environmental threats to their homeland. By incorporating various cultural perspectives, such environmentally detrimental plans were halted, and prove that cultural integrations in environmental policies do in fact work, and must continue to be included in environmental efforts. The concept of pathos is also applicable in this situation, as it is important to remember that humans are not robots and have emotional capabilities. By emotionally appealing to policymakers, various cultures have the potential of effectively persuading these people to care about them, and will result in more successful climate policies that integrate cultural dimensions.
Education is also essential in promoting climate change awareness, as the countries that tend to have the least amount of concern for the environment were nations in the developing world that lack essential education. Many citizens in these developing countries have not even heard of climate change. While encountering such worrisome information, I think back to my 8th Grade class’s Legacy project, in which we researched one of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. I chose to look into Goal 4: Quality Education, because I firmly believed that adequate education to any individual could transform their outlook on the world, and open several new opportunities to them. Quality education is necessary when accessing the cultural barriers in climate change, as it promotes individuals to live more healthy and sustainable lives, while also fostering tolerances between others, which maintains more peaceful societies. Maintaining peace will continue to be an essential factor when combating climate change, as increased droughts will cause wars in the future to be fought over water.
While many may understand the concept of anthropogenic climate change, expressing concern for such a crisis is unfortunately not as common, which suggests that current communication about climate change needs to be restructured. Fear is clearly not working to mitigate climate change, as it just promotes eco-anxiety. However, helping others develop a genuine love for nature, as well as the motivation of knowing that tackling climate change is attainable, is what will strengthen the urgency of climate action.
Discussion Questions:
Is there a place in your neighborhood that many people were emotionally attached to that closed down or was destroyed? Can this instance be related to climate change and how people’s overall attitude on nature needs to be shifted?
What is another sector (economics, agriculture, transportation, etc.) that can be used to promote climate change awareness effectively and call for others to demand climate action? How?