Friday, September 22, 2023

Continuing Our Journey - Environmental Ethics Independent Study Week 3

     Moving forward to chapter five in Climate Change: A Very Short Introduction, Maslin discusses the potential impacts of climate change and how these impacts worsen as the warming increases. He explains that having "a realistic target concerning the degree of climate change with which we can cope" is a crucial factor in convincing the world to cut GHG emissions. (p.64) And, our world at 1.5℃ warmer looks very different from one that is 3-4℃ warmer. To emphasize the difference in these impacts, Maslin focuses on seven major areas of concern: extreme heat, drought, and wildfires; storms and floods; coasts; agriculture; ocean acidification; biodiversity; and human health. He describes how these areas have already experienced changes that have adversely affected human lives with the warming that our planet has already experienced, and how increased warming will only lead to more drastic changes and greater adversity for humans. 

     However, I would like to highlight one of these areas myself because I feel it is an area where we, as individuals, have great power over the impacts - biodiversity. When it comes to most of the other areas of concern, individuals often have limited control over the impacts of climate change. We can and should implement mitigation and adaptation techniques to avoid devastating outcomes, of course. And, moving away from fossil fuels and toward cleaner energy is a must. But, when it comes to biodiversity, we are the primary driver of the worst impacts, and changing our behaviors could have a great influence. 

     Maslin states: "The current loss of biodiversity around the world is due to human activity, including deforestation, agriculture, urbanization, and mineral exploitation. Extinction rates are currently 100-1,000 times higher than the background natural rate and climate change will exacerbate this decline." (p.81) Therefore, we have the ability to rectify this issue by correcting our own actions. The exciting part of working to correct biodiversity loss is that it can also positively affect several of these other areas of concern. For example, better city planning, which includes green spaces and less concrete, will cool those areas, increase tree populations which absorb CO2, and produce less urban heat. Another example would be the potential slowing of climate change impacts by protecting forests, oceans, and other carbon sinks, which are also teaming with biodiversity. This is a 'domino' issue - working to solve it, helps solve many others. 

     Towards the end of this chapter, Maslin provides a table that lists some of the major impacts that humanity will face under certain temperature increases. When introducing this table he explains: 

The impacts of climate change will increase significantly as the temperature of the planet rises...Water and food security as well as public health will become the most important problems facing all countries...Though many of my collegues are planning on how to deal with a 4°C world, my simple advice is, let us not go there. (p.87) 

I agree with Maslin. My hope is that we never get to 2℃ above pre-industrial global temperatures. 

     In chapter six, Maslin discusses thresholds and tipping points. He states: 

You can think of a threshold as a point at which there is change in a system that can be reversed. But a tipping point is a threshold that, when crossed, means the system moves into a new state and this transition is irreversible...The term 'tipping points' is used a lot in climate research and discussions. However, care must be taken as there are two usages of this word. First, there are references to climate tipping points, which are the large-scale, irreversible shifts in the climate system, such as from melting of ice sheets or the release of huge stores of CH4 from below the oceans. The other usage concerns societal tipping points, which occur when climate change has a major effect on a region or a particular country. (p.93-94)

The four possible climate tipping points that Maslin describes in detail are melting ice sheets, deep-ocean circulation, gas hydrates, and Amazon dieback. He explains that we can help "greatly reduce the likelihood of climate surprise[s by] keep[ing] climate change as small as possible." In other words, the closer we can stay to 1.5℃ above pre-industrial global temperatures, the less likely we are to trigger a climate tipping point. 

     In Aldo Leopold's A Sand County Almanac, we finished out the almanac section. The months of September, October, November, and December celebrate fall and the start of winter on the farm. In October, Leopold discusses his proclivity for waking up early to survey the goings-on on his farm. He states: 

Getting up too early is a vice habitual in horned owls, stars, geese, and freight trains...Early risers feel at ease with each other, perhaps because, unlike those who sleep late, they are given to understatement of their own achievements...Like many another treaty of restraint, the pre-dawn pact lasts only as long as darkness humbles the arrogant. (p.55-56)

And, having, on occasion, had the privilege of witnessing the world just before it wakens en masse, I too can attest to the quiet superiority of this time of the day. 

     In November, while describing the "month of the axe," Leopold gives us a glimpse of his opinions on philosophy: 

We classify ourselves into vocations, each of which either weilds some particular tool, or sells it, or repairs it, or sharpens it, or dispenses advice on how to do so; by such division of labors we avoid responsiblity for the misuse of any tool save our own. But there is one vocation - philosophy - which knows that all men, by what they think about and wish for, in effect weild all tools. It knows that men thus determine, by their manner of thinking and wishing, whether it is worth while to weild any. (p.63-64)

We decide by our thinking and wishing whether we should use the shovel or the axe.

     Another poignant discussion that takes place in November is about his farm woodland, which he calls "a mighty fortress." Leopold writes: "Every farm woodland...should provide its owner with a liberal education. This crop of wisdom never fails, but it is not always harvested." (p.68) He explains that not long after he acquired his land, he realized that his trees were infested with many different diseases and pests. But, when he looked harder, he realized that those 'diseases' and 'pests' allowed for all manner of other life to flourish on his farm. He states:

Many other kinds of wildlife depend on tree diseases. My pileated woodpeckers chisel living pines, to extract fat grubs from the diseased heartwood. My barred owls find surcease from crows and jays in the hollow heart of an old basswood; but for this diseased tree their sundown serenade would probably be silenced. My wood ducks nest in hollow trees; every June brings its brood of downy ducklings to my woodland slough. All squirrels depend, for permanent dens, on a delicate balanced equilibrium between a rotting cavity and the scar tissue with which the tree attempts to close the wound...But for diseases and insect pests, there would likely be no food in these trees. (p.72)

What a lovely example of learning about the necessity for balance and biodiversity!

     Lastly, I will leave you with a quote from December that I hope inspires you as much as it does me to do what we can with what we have to help. Leopold writes:

Acts of creation are ordinarily reserved for gods and poets, but humbler folk may circumvent this restriction if they know how. To plant a pine, for example, one need be neither god nor poet; one need only own a shovel. By virtue of this curious loophole in the rules, any clodhopper may say: Let there be a tree - and there will be one. (p.76)

Next week we will continue where we leave it today. 

 

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