37 Years From Now
This post is part of the Global Mom Relay. Every time you share this blog, $5 will go to women and girls around the world. Scroll to the bottom to find out more.
by Mary Robinson, President, Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice
In 2050 my four grandchildren will be in their 40s. They will share this planet with nine billion others. Imagining the world that they will all inhabit together brings home the realization that climate change and severe weather shocks pose one of the greatest challenges facing not only my generation, but the generations that follow. It now seems unlikely that we will have achieved the global target of keeping the world below 2° Celsius (35.6° Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial standards. So by 2050 weather shocks will be much more severe and unrelenting. There will be greater food insecurity, severe water shortages, and widespread displacement of people both within countries and across borders. Some predict there may be as many as 200 million climate displaced people by 2050. In 37 years time!
Sometimes I imagine the echo of their voices coming back over the years. What will they say about me and my generation? What I hear is anger, fear and extreme frustration: “How could they have been so stupid?” “Where was their sense of social justice?” “Why did they not act when they had the chance to prevent this misery for us?”
It doesn't have to be so. It is still not inevitable if we act now to secure a fair, ambitious climate agreement by 2015, and put in place universal development goals for all countries post 2015.
Where is the leadership to come from? Why not from thoughtful mothers and grandmothers who are looking ahead to 2050? We can put pressure on our political leaders to take decisions now that will protect our children and our grandchildren from the severe impacts of climate change and severe weather shocks. Women tend to be more inter-generational in thinking and we are conscious of the need to prevent inter-generational injustice…
Read more HERE!
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