“The measure of a country’s greatness should be based on how well it cares for its most vulnerable populations.” – Mahatma Gandhi
It is no longer the question of whether climate change is real or not; as record-breaking temperatures, destructive floods, droughts, wildfires, and tropical cyclones occur around the entire world. Zooming in, the United States alone, since 1980’s has had 376 weather and climate disasters exceeding 2.7 trillion dollars (climate.gov), not counting the lives lost and impacted by these events.
What is climate change? Simply stated, the earth is surrounded by an envelope of gasses that trap the sun’s heat and prevent the earth from freezing. However, accumulation of these gasses can cause too much heat to be trapped and raise temperatures that will eventually be unsuitable for life. Accumulation of these ‘greenhouse gasses’ occur primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas) which releases large amounts of carbon dioxide, one of the three main greenhouse gasses, into the atmosphere. We burn fossil fuels to generate different forms of energy such as electricity and heat. To complicate matters further, we are removing trees (deforestation) and green space (urban encroachment) which would’ve helped to reduce the carbon dioxide accumulation from the atmosphere. Thus bringing us to the climate crisis we are facing today.
In a global effort to address the climate crisis, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change adopted the Kyoto Protocol in 1997. The Kyoto Protocol, signed by 192 countries and legally binds these developed countries, which are responsible for the majority of the carbon emission — to reduce their carbon output. This was followed by the Paris Agreement in 2015, which builds on the Kyoto Protocol by establishing a new global effort to address climate change through mitigation (reduce carbon emissions), adaptation (adjust to current and future climate change effects), and loss and damage (support to those most impacted by climate change) efforts. The new goal of the Paris Agreement was to keep the global temperature rise below 2 degrees celsius — specifically, 1.5 degrees Celsius.
COP29 is referred to as the ‘climate finance COP’ because the goal is to establish a new global climate finance target, simply stated how much should wealthy nations (referred to as the Global North), which are responsible for the majority of the carbon emissions, pay to vulnerable nations (referred to as the Global South) which are most impacted by climate change, although they produce the lowest carbon emissions.
Globally, all nations agree that climate action is needed for a sustainable future, however the great divide in climate action arises when it is time to discuss responsibilities and finance. Which is why this COP was so chaotic and contentious. The prior goal of $100 billion by 2025 is no longer sufficient given the rise in carbon emissions. According to climate experts, the new proposed goal should be $1 trillion — a minimum of what is needed to assist vulnerable nations deal with the impacts of climate change and build sustainable clean energy.
The world’s future is dependent on how these nations will respond.
Cuc is a Climate Generation Window Into COP delegate for COP29. To learn more, we encourage you to meet the full delegation, support our delegates, and subscribe to the Window Into COP digest.
Cuc (pronounced “Cook”) Vu is a graduate student in the STEM Education program at the University of Minnesota. Her research interest involves examining the phenomena behind inequities in representation of marginalized populations in STEM disciplines. Her favorite class to teach is “Nature in the Cities”, an environmental science course that focuses on science and conservation of biodiversity in the Twin Cities. This course covers the importance of socially responsible and culturally sensitive interventions to environmental problems.
The post The great divide in climate action appeared first on Climate Generation.
Climate Change
States Say They Need More Help Replacing Lead Pipes. Congress May Cut the Funding Instead.
The U.S. House voted to cut millions promised for the work this year. The Senate will vote this week, as advocates and some lawmakers push back.
The Senate is taking up a spending package passed by the House of Representatives that would cut $125 million in funding promised this year to replace toxic lead pipes.
States Say They Need More Help Replacing Lead Pipes. Congress May Cut the Funding Instead.
Here are 6 inspiring books discussing oceans, critiques of capitalism, the Indigenous fight for environmental justice, and hope—for your upcoming reading list this year.
The Deepest Map: The High-Stakes Race to Chart the World’s Oceans
by Laura Trethewey (2023)
This book reminds me of the statement saying that people hear more about the moon and other planets in space than what lies beneath Earth’s oceans, which are often cited as ‘scary’ and ‘harsh’. Through investigative and in-depth reportage, ocean journalist and writer Laura Trethewey tackles important aspects of ocean mapping.
The mapping and exploration can be very useful to understand more about the oceans and to learn how we can protect them. On the other hand, thanks to neoliberal capitalism, it can potentially lead to commercial exploitation and mass industrialisation of this most mysterious ecosystem of our world.
The Deepest Map is not as intimidating as it sounds. Instead, it’s more exciting than I anticipated as it shows us more discoveries we may little know of: interrelated issues between seafloor mapping, geopolitical implications, ocean exploitation due to commercial interest, and climate change.
The Code of Capital: How the Law Creates Wealth and Inequality
by Katharina Pistor (2019)
Through The Code of Capital, Katharina Pistor talks about the correlation between law and the creation of wealth and inequality. She noted that though the wealthy love to claim hard work and skills as reasons why they easily significantly generate their fortunes, their accumulation of wealth would not last long without legal coding.
“The law is a powerful tool for social ordering and, if used wisely, has the potential to serve a broad range of social objectives: yet, for reasons and with implications that I attempt to explain, the law has been placed firmly in the service of capital,” she stated.
The book does not only show interesting takes on looking at inequality and the distribution of wealth, but also how those people in power manage to hoard their wealth with certain codes and laws, such as turning land into private property, while lots of people are struggling under the unjust system.
The Intersectional Environmentalist: How to Dismantle Systems of Oppression to Protect People + Planet
by Leah Thomas (2022)
Arguing that capitalism, racism, and other systems of oppression are the drivers of exploitation, activist Leah Thomas focuses on addressing the application of intersectionality to environmental justice through The Intersectional Environmentalist. Marginalised people all over the world are already on the front lines of the worsening climate crisis yet struggling to get justice they deserve.
I echo what she says, as a woman born and raised in Indonesia where clean air and drinkable water are considered luxury in various regions, where the extreme weather events exacerbated by the climate crisis hit the most vulnerable communities (without real mitigation and implementations by the government while oligarchies hijack our resources).
I think this powerful book is aligned with what Greenpeace has been speaking up about for years as well, that social justice and climate justice are deeply intertwined so it’s crucial to fight for both at the same time to help achieve a sustainable future for all.
As Long As Grass Grows
by Dina Gilio-Whitaker (2019)
Starting with the question “what does environmental justice look like when Indigenous people are at the centre?” Dina Gilio-Whitaker takes us to see the complexities of environmental justice and the endless efforts of Indigenous people in Indian country (the lands and communities of Native American tribes) to restore their traditional cultures while healing from the legacy of trauma caused by hundreds of years of Western colonisation.
She emphasizes that what distinguishes Indigenous peoples from colonisers is their unbroken spiritual relationship to their ancestral homelands. “The origin of environmental justice for Indigenous people is dispossession of land in all its forms; injustice is continually reproduced in what is inherently a culturally genocidal structure that systematically erases Indigenous people’s relationships and responsibilities to their ancestral places,” said Gilio-Whitaker.
I believe that the realm of today’s modern environmentalism should include Indigenous communities and learn their history: the resistance, the time-tested climate knowledge systems, their harmony with nature, and most importantly, their crucial role in preserving our planet’s biodiversity.
The Book of Hope
by Jane Goodall and Douglas Abrams with Gail Hudson (2021)
The Book of Hope is a marvelous glimpse into primatologist and global figure Jane Goodall’s life and work. The collaborator of the book, journalist Douglas Abrams, makes this reading experience even more enjoyable by sharing the reflective conversations between them, such as the definition of hope, and how to keep it alive amid difficult times.
Sadly, as we all know, Jane passed away this year. We have lost an incredible human being in the era when we need more someone like her who has inspired millions to care about nature, someone whose wisdom radiated warmth and compassion. Though she’s no longer with us, her legacy to spread hope stays.
Ocean: Earth’s Last Wilderness
by David Attenborough and Colin Butfield (2025)
“I could only have dreamed of recording in the early stages of my career, and we have changed the ocean so profoundly that the next hundred years could either witness a mass extinction of ocean life or a spectacular recovery.”
The legend David Attenborough highlights how much humans have yet to understand the ocean in his latest book with Colin Butfield. The first part of it begins with what has happened in a blue whale’s lifetime. Later it takes us to coral reefs, the deep of the ocean, kelp forest, mangroves, even Arctic, Oceanic seamounts, and Southern Ocean. The book contains powerful stories and scientific facts that will inspire ocean lovers, those who love to learn more about this ecosystem, and those who are willing to help protect our Earth.
To me, this book is not only about the wonder of the ocean, but also about hope to protect our planet. Just like what Attenborough believes: the more people understand nature, the greater our hope of saving it.
Kezia Rynita is a Content Editor for Greenpeace International, based in Indonesia.
The Whanganui River is officially a living being and legal person. Māori leaders explain how Indigenous knowledge and persistence made it happen.
Ned Tapa has spent his life along New Zealand’s Whanganui River. For Tapa, a Māori leader, the river is not a resource to be managed or a commodity to be owned. It is an ancestor. A living being. A life force.
‘I Am the River’: How Indigenous Knowledge Reshaped New Zealand’s Law
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