Climate Justice

The IPCC's latest report on the likelihood of crossing the 1.5 degree level of warming in the coming decades reveals that "Unless rapid and deep reductions in CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions occur in the coming decades, achieving the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement “will be beyond reach”". And: "The document ... finds that averaged over the next 20 years, global temperature is expected to reach or exceed 1.5°C of heating." [1]

A week ago I took part in a civil disobedience action for climate justice in Lisbon. It was not my first civil disobedience action, nor will it be my last. However, in this action I realised that for me it is no longer the same.

I have been arrested several times in various countries during my activist life. My first arrest was in 1986 in Germany, in an action against a nuclear waste processing factory. The last one was probably a few years ago in England or Belgium. So, I know more or less well the process of an arrest in various countries. Although it is true that it is not pleasant, I have learned to manage the fear that always accompanies these situations. Or, so I thought, until last Saturday.

Not just another civil society statement on climate change, the Glasgow Agreement is a 'people’s climate commitment' to take decisive action on greenhouse gas emissions.

Am I in a flashback? I woke up this morning with another weird dream. I don't remember everything (usually I don't remember anything, and this is the second time in a few weeks that I remember a dream), but I remember the need to escape, of - again - missing a train. I remember thinking about taking another train, but I woke up and I don't know if I managed to take this other train.

2019 closed with a COP25 without significant results. Four years after the "historic" Paris Agreement, we are still not committed enough to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C. In fact, we are heading for a rise of more than 3°C, most likely surpassing several tipping points and triggering even greater and more catastrophic warming.

On climate anxiety and the need to rise up

We have little time left to achieve a fundamental change in the policy of our states to halt and limit climate change. We are talking about a few years because in 2030 (in less than 12 years) we would have to have reduced greenhouse gas emissions by more than 45% to limit global warming to 1.5º C. But neither politics nor social debate are up to this challenge. So, are we fucked?