We face a huge crisis. An existential crisis. The earth is heating up fast and if nothing is done soon may be uninhabitable. These are not my words. They are on everybody’s mind, certainly of those attending the climate change summit in Glasgow, Scotland. Everyone knows and sees the danger. They recognise the urgency of what has to be done and most have it within their means to act to stem the crisis. And for a generation, they have been talking about it. But differences remain about how or when and at what pace to apply them, and by who. Yesterday, November 1, the annual summit on climate change, Conference of the Parties (COP) and this is number 26, opened in Glasgow, World leaders are meeting to agree on concrete actions to cap carbon emissions and keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius. They have been doing this for more than twenty-six years. Not many are hopeful that COP26 will be different and produce a major breakthrough. There will be more talking. Solutions will be offered. Commitments will be made. Activists will exert the usual pressure. When the summit ends they will return home. Little or nothing will be done. Except that resolutions of COP26 will become the new reference point until the next summit. We shall return to hand-wringing and hear such statements as ‘if we don’t act now, it will be too late’- urging urgency but little else. To be fair, once in a while, there is some kind of a breakthrough (or you think there is) as with Paris COP21. But almost immediately climate change deniers or sceptics come to power in some of the countries most responsible for the most emissions and put a damper on any optimism. Even with all these summits, warning from scientists and action of climate activists, climate change remains the biggest question of today, not simply of the future as those who want to put off decisions argue. Nor is it only an issue in the halls of high level summits or scientific conferences, or something conjured up by doomsday prophets or other kinds of sorcerers. It is a burning (sometimes literally) issue in the hills and valleys, cities and villages, on smallholder farms as well as large plantations and ranches, and in homes. Ask a farmer in Rwanda’s eastern province their greatest concern today and they will tell you it is the impending food shortages due to poor rains. That must be worrying the government as well. Climate change is also a problem of the future. Luckily young people recognise this and are at the forefront of calls for immediate action to save the planet. They, of course, have a stake in the future. Unfortunately, those who make decisions do not share the urgency or stake. They are either politicians beholden to some of the worst emissions offenders, industrialists who have made money from environmental destruction, or some groups with bizarre beliefs. And so, what will make them act? Perhaps climate change campaigners should open another front. Face the politicians at the polls. Shame them for receiving campaign funds from destroyers of our earth. Surely endangering our planet cannot be a lighter sin than a minor sex offence that often disqualifies one from contesting election to public office. Or they should picket the businesses that refuse to change to alternative modes of production or energy. A papal plea perhaps? Pope Francis has added his voice to the call for urgent action to save the earth. In a message to the Glasgow summit, he urged leaders to take “radical action” and “offer concrete hope to future generations”. The pontiff voiced our worry. “We have lost our sense of security and are experiencing a sense of powerlessness and loss of control over our lives,” he said. He warned against retreating into “isolationism, protectionism and exploitation” as some have tended to do. Instead, a solution should be found in “a renewed sense of responsibility for our world and an effective solidarity” Will they heed that call? An appeal to the moral sense of those who have grown rich on exploiting nature and in the process ravaging the environment might work. Make them feel a moral responsibility for its restoration. That, of course, assumes they have a conscience. If that won’t work, maybe threaten them with hellfire or bribe with the promise of eternal heavenly bliss. Even the most powerful, perhaps more than most, love perpetuation of their life in some form. If not the spiritual one, the legacy variant. Or the spectre of hordes of migrants bearing down on their countries might jolt some leaders into acting on their commitments. Whatever convinces the leaders to act, Glasgow COP26 must be the moment, a turning point, as some have prayed. It may be, although I have doubts. I may be wrong, of course, and pray that I am. Meanwhile we in Rwanda will continue doing our thing – reclaim and protect wetlands, reforest our hills, adopt and promote green technologies and lifestyle. Perhaps others will do the same and the sum of those actions might help avert a catastrophe. The views expressed in this article are of the writer.
