Let’s do a thought experiment: What are you doing today that will directly benefit your future?
Examples could be planning travel for the holidays so it’s all sorted out when the time comes; building a professional network that you can leverage in the years to come; paying insurance premiums to cover possible future unexpected losses; saving for your next big expense, a new house in five years; or simply setting money aside for your retirement.
Now let’s go a step further and ask: What are you doing today that will benefit your and others’ shared future?
Ideas could include saving money for your kids’ college expenses, helping people you know who could help you when you are in need, volunteering at your kids’ school to improve education standards in your neighborhood, or supporting a charity that will make your community or country a safer, better and more prosperous place to live in.
Solving climate change demands that we go a step even further, that we do something today that will benefit not just the next generation but all future generations. Not just our communities but all of humanity. The fruits of which might not even be visible in our lifetimes. That is, understandably, a hard thing to do, and an even harder thing to reach a consensus on.
In a few weeks’ time, more than 25,000 delegates representing 200 governments and civil society will meet in Paris for COP 21, or the 2015 Paris Climate Conference, to do just that: to reach a global consensus on how to solve climate change.
What Does COP 21 Seek to Achieve?
Combating climate change is a twofold battle of mitigation and adaptation. This means reducing future greenhouse gas emissions to avoid warming the world to dangerous temperatures, and adapting to current impacts of climate change around the world.
On mitigation, the conference seeks commitments and timelines from countries in reducing their emissions, and to promote transparency and accountability in that mission.
Greenhouse gases trap heat from the sun and warm the planet’s surface. Of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions the majority are related to energy production and consumption; specifically most of those are carbon dioxide (CO2) from the burning of fossil fuels.
For adaptation, there is a need to mobilize capital. Starting in 2020, developed countries are aiming for $100 billion per year in funding, from public and private sources, to be directed to adaptation.
Since the commitment in 2010, towards $100 billion a year in 2020, only $10.2 billion has been committed so far. In comparison, IEA estimates that fossil fuel subsidies in OECD countries totaled $548 billion in 2013.
Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Why Is COP 21 Important?
The same way starting saving for retirement just a year earlier makes a huge difference in how much you would end up saving, the world today is at a point where every extra year spent without action against climate change has an immense impact on what the world will look like in 20, 50 and 100 years.
There is a lot at stake here. It is a list too long for this post, but consider this: 1 in 6 of the world’s species faces the possibility of extinction by 2100 due to manmade greenhouse gas emissions. The EPA estimates that “by 2050, 350 million to 600 million people (in Africa) are projected to experience increased water stress due to climate change.”
What Does It Mean for You?
As representatives from nations all over the world come together to discuss, negotiate and move toward a solution that works for everyone, this is a time suitable for reflection by all. What are we doing today in terms of our lifestyle choices, consumption and investment decisions—that is, moving the world toward a safer future?
Find out your personal carbon footprint, ask your investment managers and your 401(k) administrators about how your investments account for climate change, have a conversation with your friends and colleagues, share your thoughts, educate the next generation.
Here are 10 climate-friendly habits from the COP 21 organizers that you can adopt today. Do something today that could protect the world forever.
On December 2, in an unprecedented television event, Discovery is set to roll out Racing Extinction in 220 countries and territories, with the goal of reaching a billion viewers. The film, by the Academy Award-winning filmmakers of The Cove, is a rare and powerful look at the state of our oceans and of the race to reverse the sixth mass extinction. It is an eye-opening call to action that feels more like an action adventure film than a documentary. The filmmakers, recognizing that the scale of these issues can feel overwhelming, have launched a campaign, #StartWith1Thing, encouraging viewers to “find their 1 thing.” Actions include installing solar panels, skipping meat for a day and learning how to protect certain species. For the full list and to do your part, visit racingextinction.com.
Sources:
Adam Vaughan, “One in Six of World’s Species Faces Extinction Due to Climate Change—Study,” The Guardian, April 30, 2015, www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/apr/30/one-in-six-of-worlds-species-faces-extinction-due-to-climate-change-study.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “Climate Impacts on Global Issues,” www3.epa.gov/climatechange/impacts/international.html.
