• Climate Change
• Why make Climate Change our number one priority?
• How do we tackle Climate Change?
• The role of students
• Therefore...

Climate Change

Climate Change is possibly the biggest and most terrifying problem we've ever faced on this planet.

The task now is not to prove that manmade climate change exists, because this has been categorically proven and accepted by most. The task now is to ensure that the radical action required to tackle climate change happens, and happens today. Climate Change has long been referred to as yet another 'green' issue or environmental problem, yet it is so much more than this. Climate Change is an issue of global social injustice, where our unsustainably high levels of greenhouse gas emissions are actively causing devastation to human beings across the world.

Why make Climate Change our number one priority?

Climate Change is not just another political cause, but rather it is a force that will affect all else. Climate change is something that campaigners from all issues and causes must unite together on, because all issues and causes will be affected by climate change.

Poverty across the third world will become more extreme and widespread as droughts and crop failures become ever more common. The world's health will suffer as the more extreme weather conditions of climate change will cause a massive rise in deadly infectious diseases. Climate Refugees are already being created, and could reach 25million, and yet their status as refugees is not even recognised. So-called 'natural' disasters will be on the rise in both occurrence and extremity, and these will not only cause instant death tolls but also devastate regions for many years to come. The natural world will be hugely affected, with millions of species unable to adapt to the rapidly changing climate. As precious resources dry up there will be greater political instability across the world, with ruthless 'survival of the fittest' wars being fought, such as the war currently being fought in Darfur. The insecurity will also lead to nations turning to more totalitarian regimes, bringing mass human rights abuses and a suppression of civil liberties. Therefore, Climate Change must become everyone's issue.

Climate Change is not something being caused by an abstract 'force' millions of miles away. What makes Climate Change such a scary idea to comprehend is that the root causes of climate change are embedded in our very society itself. Nuclear weapons can be got rid of, but with climate change it is our very infrastructure that we all currently depend on that needs to be 'got rid of', or rather radically changed. The drastic changes needed to tackle climate change will affect all our lives, and so to tackle climate change we have to be prepared to change ourselves. When we fight against climate change we are fighting to change the way we ourselves live.

The final aspect that makes Climate Change a unique issue is the time limit set on tackling it. Many may already be saying that it is too late to tackle climate change, but this is nothing more than yet another method of denying the need for action. However, while it may not be too late at the moment it very soon will be. Climate Change is already happening and it will definitely get worse, due to the emissions we are currently producing that have yet to have their impact on the climate system. But if we fail to reduce our emissions by 90% before 2030 then we risk 'runaway climate change'. This is when we've caused so much damage to the climate system that it will spiral out of our control entirely regardless of how much we reduce our emissions. This is due to 'positive feedbacks' from manmade climate change, for example when warming causes permafrost to thaw then methane will be released into the atmosphere causing yet more climate change. It is believed that we can avoid runaway climate change by keeping the global temperature below a 2 degree rise from pre-industrial levels, and this is what the 90% cut will hopefully ensure. However, to achieve this we have to act now.

How do we tackle Climate Change?

As activists it is no longer our task to make people aware of climate change, or even to convince them it's real. Even George W. Bush is coming round to the idea that climate change exists now. Our focus needs to be on ensuring effective action is taken to ensure the Western world achieves 90% cuts in a fair and humane way. This is no small task.

The government and big business know that we are concerned about climate change, yet their vested interests in economic growth at all costs means they have consistently refused to take genuine action to prevent it. Therefore it falls on the people to take action directly. This is what is meant by direct action.

This action can be on an individual level, such as reducing the emissions from our homes and transport, but we can never reach the 90% cuts required unless we go beyond the individual emissions to transform our unsustainable society as a whole. Therefore the most effective form of action people can take is collective action - forcing change where it really matters through mass action. There have already been exciting examples of this at Climate Camp 2007, which took place at Heathrow, but in order to stop climate change we need a critical mass of people taking mass collective action to the point where the government and corporations simply can't sustain business as usual.

The movement has got to grow a lot yet, and that is the point of this project.

The role of students

In order to build the critical mass required to stop a problem as huge as climate change we need people from all walks of life and all parts of society taking action together. Students represent a large and important body of society, and they have historically been at the forefront of all major social struggles. Therefore, on this issue of all issues it is vital students play a key and substantial role in bringing about change.

Also, in addition to government and corporations, universities also have their role to play to causing climate change. The research carried out by universities dictates the nature of our society and infrastructure. If all the research funds are being ploughed into fossil fuels and not renewable energy, then this will greatly restrict our ability to create a sustainable future. Students are in the best position to take on universities.

Therefore...

With all this in mind, it seems building a mass student movement against climate change is not something that can wait and therefore that is exactly what we are seeking to aid through this project.

Get involved today!