Welcome to my blog!

Following years of denial since its discovery, climate change is finally being accepted as a certainty and global threat to humanity, requiring immediate action. The threat is not however that of extinction. We have survived and surpassed all expectation by overcoming previous disasters and will continue to dominate the Earth. The threat surrounds a loss of wealth of life.

Since 01 September 2016 - 10 October 2016 approximately 1.5 million people have been displaced by natural disasters globally (IDMC, 2016)

In an attempt to preserve life within the boundaries of what we know it as, we have embraced a concept of sustainability. Sustainability has been a buzz word since the early 21^st century owing to the 2001 IPCC report detailing the need to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius. The concept however was established as early as 1987 when sustainable development itself was defined in the Brundtland Report as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.

Climate change as described by the 2007 IPCC report “is part of the larger challenge of sustainable development. As a result, climate policies can be more effective when consistently embedded within broader strategies designed to make national and regional development paths more sustainable”. – simply put, one cannot achieve sustainability without climate stability and vice versa.

Culture and farming go hand-in-hand, so when we change farming practices are we losing cultural diversity?

The state of the climate and our ability to persist with the richness of life we presently experience is contingent on our ability to correctly perceive the best way forward and act on it. Since 2001, a mountain of scientific evidence has been discussed and debated but little action has been taken – more to come on this later - on a global scale to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, (GHG’s), and work towards policies with a more sustainable goal in mind. 

Recent findings have revealed discrepancies within the definition itself, the policies and the omission of key elements in emission estimates, all of which conflict with the public’s understanding of what we, think is being done by and for us in order to fulfil the concept of sustainability.

Whist airlines are under pressure to reduce and offset emissions by 2020, the shipping industry are still to be held responsible for their global emissions.

Through this blog I would like to explore these discrepancies with specific reference to sustainability as a concept within the context of climate change. Is ecotourism sustainable? what are the limits and effects of the growing industry? What is the future for farming? How do we preserve cultural diversity whilst trying to diminish the economic disparities between classes? Why have governments been so slow to act and who is making the most change? No doubt as I investigate the topic further, the subjects I plan to cover may change, but these are just a few of the burning questions I hope to examine whilst writing these blogs as part of my Climate Change MSc at UCL this year.

Please express your opinions in the weekly poll at the bottom of my page. I would also welcome any feedback, comments and questions, as well as issues I can investigate for inclusion in following blogs. 

Wishing you all enough! 

Courtney.