I was already worried before I heard Dr. Charles (Chip) Fletcher’s talk in a Terra.do newsletter. From everything I’ve been studying in my fellowship with Climatebase and my class with edX, I knew things were grim. But hearing Dr. Fletcher shares this information added another horrific layer.
Here are a few notable facts from his research paper, “Earth at Risk: An urgent call to end the age of destruction and forge a just and sustainable future,” published in PNAS Nexus on April 2, 2024. Be prepared to have your mind blown and take mini breaks in between if the stats are overwhelming.
- In 2023, 1/3 of the population were exposed to deadly heat waves.
- Kids born today will experience 7.5x many heat waves than people born in the 60s.
- 3-6 million species will go extinct in the next 50 years.
- Net zero promises lack verification and standardization to hold corporations accountable. {Similarly, this is what climate specialist Katie Thompson told me about aviation and how no one was regulating the amount of Co2 generated by airplanes.}
- We need to cut emissions drastically.
- History got us here through imperialism, colonialism and capitalism, which led to erasure of culture, degradation of land and resources, and getting rid of indigenous knowledge about the natural world.
- 4.1 million hectare of tropical rainforest were lost in 2022.
- We’re already overpopulated but this will increase and overburden our already taxed system. If we continue on this path, we could see permanent shifts in our ecosystems from rainforests transitioning into deserts by or before 2080.
- The solutions lie on empowering women, strengthening healthcare, and implementing social welfare programs. These create more equitable and resilience societies.
- Heating of our oceans and overfishing will impact 90% of our marine food supply. 98% of coral reefs are projected to be harmed by 2050.
- Only 2.9% of our land surfaces are still intact.
- Earth is currently undergoing a 6th mass extinction event. Mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish etc have declined 69% in 50 years.
- We have 45% less trees globally.
So what’s the most important thing that Dr. Fletcher wants you to know?
“I want people to understand that the earth is suffering. And that we only have one planet and no one is coming to rescue us.”
Everything we are going through is interrelated. He says we are in a pandemic era. Covid was the result of rainforest and other natural resource destruction. We continue to extract at a greater speed than we did in the past with less resources.
This reminded me of what was said in this Earth Principles edX course about this erroneous belief that the earth is an unlimited natural resource.
Individually, attempting to put one fire out at a time, will likely be unsuccessful. Dr. Fletcher says that we need to get to the root of the issue. “We need a whole change in economic framework.”
Our economy has largely been based to serve the wealthy. It’s the basis of every classic movie from Robin Hood to Star Wars. Too much power turns people against one another and leaves the most vulnerable.
“This has its roots in 500 years of colonialism, imperialism when one community exerts its will on another community. This is the history of humanity on this planet. European nations engaged in colonialism early on to strip natural resources from distant places that were not valued. Economics became a process of accumulating profit.”
Climate change can only be stopped by radical action like getting rid of fossil fuels, using more affordable renewable energy sources, focusing on regeneration. Dr. Fletcher says realistically this can’t be done. So mitigation and adaption are our plan Bs.
He says we need to build and support the poorest and most struggling communities so that they can bounce back in lieu of a natural disaster. Many are unable to, however, and become displaced from their homes. This, he says, causes problems like immigration. When drought, wildfires, and flooding pushes people to emigrate to other countries, they are often welcomed at first. But competition with natural resources ends up causing the kind of problems we are having with immigration today.
With knowing all of this information, it is difficult, if not impossible for Dr. Fletcher to feel hopeful. But he can speak to optimism.
“If my talk upsets you, what you are feeling is grief. We have lost the idealized world that you experienced in childhood…that experience with nature you felt is going away. The solution for grief is to give it time and live with it and take action. Embedded within action is optimism.”
Dr. Fletcher says there is a lot we can do. We can educate ourselves. Learn about climate change. Take nonviolent action through protests. Run for office. Action he says, creates optimism.
For those of us who have the great fortune of living in Hawai’i, Dr. Fletcher feels a little more hopeful.
“I’d rather be in Hawai’i than anyplace else…If Hawai’i can become self sufficient in growing our own food, controlling our water usage, control the pollution that we are creating and if we can have our own source of energy be it geothermal, wind, etc. Hawai’i can be one of those corners of beauty where humans can really figure out this existential problem…I also think critically important is Hawaiian’s indigenous relationship with each other and the land…Our indigenous heritage offers a successful future.”