Climate and Equity

There’s an interesting debate on how we convince people to take action on climate change. This action can be that we vote for the political parties that will follow through on actions, or it could that we all need to take some personal responsibility for climate change and take appropriate actions.

A Sydney GP has an interesting take on this and how we need to use particular words to convince all people.

To quote form his article:

The challenge is to be able to frame climate change problems in a way that relates to everyday experiences. Not just that, but we need to be able to show unequivocally that we care as much for those who will be most affected by climate change, those who are most vulnerable to its effects, as we do for polar bears.

We need to demonstrate an awareness of the current challenges faced by those most vulnerable to climate change, because they are also the people who are already the most vulnerable to all the other social problems we create.

In short, we need to understand that many of us who think this issue is important come from a position of privilege, but that we stand alongside the most vulnerable, understand their current challenges and are working with them to prevent these getting worse.

click here for the full article.

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Paul Costigan, 2 March 2014