Environmentalists (Lorelai Houk)
Fact-Checked Source:
Mary Robinson and Daya Reddy, "Tackling Climate Change with COVID-19 Urgency"
On April 1, 2020, Mary Robinson and Daya Reddy collaborated on an article published on Project Syndicate's website highlighting the governments' reactions to COVID-19, and how the measures taken for the pandemic should influence the worlds climate action. Link to Article.
Looking Deeper: Five Facts Checked
Consider air pollution, which kills an estimated seven million people worldwide each year.
This claim is interesting because it is common knowledge that air pollution is bad for people, however, I had never heard of such a large number of deaths caused by air pollution. The World Health Organization corroborates this claim on their overview of air pollution.
The World Health Organization, governments, ... while scientists, policymakers, and public-health experts are sharing vital data via sophisticated tracking tools.
I believe this is an important claim to check because their idea is that the widespread and rapid actions that have been taken during the COVID-19 pandemic can be taken in regards to helping mitigate climate change. The sophisticated tracking tools and sharing of information throughout these governments and organizations can be found on many sites, but the John Hopkins COVID-19 Dashboard shows the advanced tools that are being used for the pandemic.
Global carbon dioxide emissions must decline by about 45% from 2010 levels by 2030 and reach net zero by mid-century if the world is to have a chance of preventing catastrophic global warming.
This fact is important to check because the outcome of this being true and not being followed is "catastrophic". These numbers show a need for drastic lowering in carbon dioxide emissions, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change verifies this claim.
Yet, a relatively small number of fossil-fuel companies are responsible for a significant portion of CO2 admissions.
I thought this was an important fact to verify because a lot of the ideas proposed in the article deal with how government responses would significantly contribute to lowering carbon dioxide emissions produced by companies. This fact was also on the Climate Accountability Institute's website showing the fossil-fuel contribution to emissions.
As matters stand, countries’ nationally determined contributions under the 2015 Paris agreement would have to be five times more ambitious in order to limit global warming to 1.5°C by 2050.
This is an interesting claim because it illustrates how the steps taken to slow climate change so far need to be much more drastic. This analysis of the steps taken because of the Paris accords can be found in the UN's Emissions Gap Report 2019.
Analytic Essay
The Evolution of Environmentalist Methods Due to the Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic
Environmentalists are people who are concerned and advocate for the protection of the environment. Two environmentalists include Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland, and Daya Reddy, the president of the International Science Council. They collaborated on an article titled “Tackling Climate Change with COVID-19 Urgency”. Mary Robinson and Daya Reddy both hold leadership positions in society, however, any person no matter their position in society can be an advocate for the environment. Although Reddy and Robinson hold such prestigious positions in society they recognize the importance of advocacy across social standings, “Hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren around the world have protested against climate inaction, … levels.” (Robinson & Reddy, 2020). The large spectrum of people that can be environmentalists is important because global climate change affects everyone. Robinson and Reddy believe that the COVID-19 issue was handled very promptly and successfully, so they argue that the issues regarding climate change should be handled as the pandemic was handled and continues to be. Although little research has been done on the impact of climate change on the outbreak of COVID-19, in the past it has been found that diseases and their spread have ties to environmental changes. A review of studies done of cholera and its spreading in relation to global warming came to the conclusion that, “ The development of an effective early warning system based on climate data could help to prevent and control future outbreaks.” (Chowdhury, Nur, Hassan, Seidlein & Dunachie, 2017). This review shows that diseases do have a connection to environmental changes, and this connection helps to solidify the connections made between the COVID-19 pandemic and current environmentalist’s arguments. Robinson and Reddy use this connection to highlight the benefits of science and politics working together, and the benefits that would come if this collaboration was applied to the climate issues the world is facing, “ Scientists and civil society must jointly raise their voices and make every effort to ensure that we emerge on the right side of it.” (Robinson & Reddy, 2020). The pandemic has changed life throughout the world, exposing and stressing new and old ideas, “The Outbreak of epidemics like COVID-19 reveal the fundamental tenets of the trade-off we consistently face: humans have unlimited needs, but the planet has limited capacity to satisfy them.” (UN, 2020). This pandemic has influenced the ways in which environmentalists think about how to advocate for the environment, and the ideas that they present.
“The Outbreak of epidemics like COVID-19 reveal the fundamental tenets of the trade-off we consistently face: humans have unlimited needs, but the planet has limited capacity to satisfy them.” (UN, 2020).
All environmentalists have a concern for the environment, and through varying methods they want to help the health of the environment. Using the responses to the pandemic as an example Reddy and Robinson are able to show that the world is capable of making major changes when necessary. They believe that the climate crisis is a situation that requires extreme action, similar to the action taken during COVID-19, “Indeed, while the COVID-19 response has demonstrated the power of open, collaborative science ands swift action in dealing with emerging threats, it also has highlighted deep-seated issues that limit our ability to respond to challenges like global environmental change.” (Robinson & Reddy, 2020). Their goal along with many environmentalists is to draw attention to the severity of climate change, while also addressing the government's role in the inaction towards environment change. They are trying to reach individuals who are environmentalists and those who have any curiosity in global climate change; they use the internet to spread their message through Project Syndicate. Project Syndicate is a digital and paper magazine that covers many topics such as economics, innovation, sustainability, etc. Reddy and Robinson use this magazine to bring attention to the current climate situation, and what needs to be done to combat it.
Environmentalists use facts that show the dire situation that is climate change, which helps them advocate for the environment. This way of presenting their arguments brings more credibility to the points that they make, which helps to convince people the climate change is a pressing matter that desperately needs to be addressed. Reddy and Robinson use examples and statistics to help bring awareness to the severity climate inaction will have on the environment, which is seen in almost all arguments brought forth from environmentalists,“ The science is clear: Global carbon emissions must decline by about 45% from 2010 levels by 2030 and reach net zero by mid-century if the world is to have a chance of preventing catastrophic global warming.” (Robinson & Reddy, 2020). These facts lead to the development of their argument, which heavily endorses communication between scientists and political leaders. Environmentalists come from all backgrounds, many being scientists, political leaders, and all other backgrounds. Although most advocates for the environment draw their knowledge from sources such as the UN and WHO, they also need to gain knowledge from politicians, sociologists, etc. because issues such as climate change delve much deeper than just the science of the situation. In an interview with Pushpam Kumar published by the UN, he says, “ Decision makers must carefully evaluate the potential impacts of trade-offs-considering who will gain or lose, and how-and draw on collective wisdom to determine the next steps in the challenges we face today.” (UN, 2020). The pandemic has influenced the ways environmentalists are advocating, instead of talking about the change that needs to be made they are showing how this pandemic has changed the ways that environment care will be thought of, which is a significant evolution in environmentalists' progression of advocating.