Climate change has become a global problem. Efforts for a low carbon economy are being made at the grassroots level, but our world leaders have an important role to play. They must take real steps to ensure a healthy future, write Gyalwang Drukpa and Marc Yaggi
It has been said that the climate crisis will manifest itself as a water crisis. We are already seeing the ill-effects of a warming planet on the water bodies around us. From the Himalayas to the New York Harbour, our organisations — Waterkeeper Alliance and Himalayan Glacier Waterkeeper — have witnessed the effects of a changing climate.
Affected communities have been devastated by the growing intensity of storms — whether it was the havoc that Superstorm Sandy wreaked in New York in 2012, or the glacier communities around ladakh that were hit by massive flash floods just prior to the People’s Climate March in September 2014.
Communities across the globe remain under the constant threat of flood, drought, sea level rise, disease, famine and geopolitical instability, that are a regular parade of horribles. At the current pace, these threats will only be magnified over time.
Without water, there can be no life. And without clean water, there can be no health. Both of our organisations are committed to working within our communities to foster change, reduce pollution and protect vital water supplies.
We all know that real changes take place at the local levels. But the consequences to the date of inaction have created global challenges which demand a committed response from our global leaders. While we both are optimists by nature, there is much that has to be overcome. Not long ago, those working towards crafting a global agreement, were buoyed by the news that the US and China had agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
However, this excitement was tempered by the weak and vague text of the agreement that came out of the climate talks in lima at the end of 2014. In the United States, the showcase of the 114th Congress’ economic agenda is an oil pipeline, dashing any hope that the world’s lone superpower will apply hard work and ingenuity to our greatest global problem. There are so many solutions that can benefit from the weight of Washington’s power.
The solar industry in the US makes up just one per cent of its energy supply; yet, the industry employs more Americans than do coal or gas. Imagine what can be done to create jobs and for our planet’s health if elected officials stopped kowtowing to polluters and their lobbyists and got to work on renewables.
But we can’t just count on that to happen. Our global community is sparking a growing movement for real change. In September, more than 4,00,000 people marched in the streets of New York City with a demand that the global leaders take necessary steps to ensure the healthy future of our planet.
We demanded respect for water, air, trees and our communities. We demanded that our ‘leaders’ start saying no to polluters and yes to the people. We are making a grassroots level effort to make the transition to a low carbon economy.
This January, a diverse group of local citizens in Maule, Chile, including the fishing community, tourism operators, local NGOs, tourists, and temporary residents came together using grassroot organising, demonstrations, and social networking to stop the building of a 750 MW coal-fired power plant. In 2012, in leh, more than 9,000 volunteers planted nearly 1,00,000 trees in an hour as part of a live to love International effort to stave-off the increasing incidents of dangerous mudslides and to absorb carbon from the atmosphere.
It will take grassroots movements like these and more to force action on this crisis. And we must do it together, with compassion, loving kindness, wisdom, and peace of mind. This companionship will help overcome the negative forces that foster a world fueled by dirty energy and fear.
We must overcome those forces to create a just transition to an enlightened low carbon future. As Naomi Klein noted in This Changes Everything, “Slavery wasn’t a crisis for British and American elites until abolitionism made it one. Racial discrimination wasn’t a crisis until the civil rights movement turned it into one. Sex discrimination wasn’t a crisis until feminism turned it into one. Apartheid wasn’t a crisis until the anti-apartheid movement turned it into one.” Similarly, our climate won’t be a crisis until a grassroots movement makes it one.
We will continue to accelerate our efforts to empower local leaders — change agents — and amplify the voice of communities that are suffering in order to demand action from our leaders before its too late. Throughout this journey, we must remember that nothing is impossible when we walk together.
(His Holiness the Gyalwang Drukpa is Head of the Drukpa lineage of Vajrayana Buddhism and founder of live to love International and Himalayan Glacier Waterkeeper. Marc Yaggi is executive director of Waterkeeper Alliance)