There is an old saying: “If you can’t handle the heat, get out of the kitchen.”
On May 5, the BBC reported that leading scientists as saying the rate of global warming caused by humans has continued to increase, bringing the world closer to breaching the 1.5°C warming mark set during the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris (COP15). In January, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the US declared 2023 to be the warmest year since global record keeping began in 1850. Additionally, on May 30, Vatican News reported that a 2023 study published in Nature Climate Change found that 19 out of 34 countries failed to meet their CO2 emissions targets set during COP15, while only 15 of the 34 met their emission reduction goals.
The World Meteorological Organisation reported in 2023 that Asia experienced record-breaking weather conditions, from drought and heatwaves to floods and storms. This year, temperatures soared to 50 degrees in India and even higher in the Philippines. Meanwhile, Hong Kong had a cloudier and cooler than usual month of May, even though spring overall was “much warmer than usual,” according to the Hong Kong Observatory.
As stewards of God’s creation, it is vital for us to consider if we are taking sufficient measures to protect the environment. By incorporating practices such as waste reduction, reuse, and recycling, transitioning to cleaner energy sources, and safeguarding forests, oceans, and natural resources, individuals, groups, and companies can contribute to creating a positive impact.
Pope Francis, in his encyclical, Laudato Si’, noted that the human and natural environment deteriorate together and that we cannot battle environmental degradation if we don’t first address the causes of human and social degradation; the poor will suffer the most. “Both everyday experience and scientific research show that the gravest effects of all attacks on the environment are suffered by the poorest,” he wrote [48].
UNICEF reported, when introducing its Children’s Climate Risk Index in 2021, that half of the world’s 2.2 billion children are at extremely high risk from climate change. The World Bank reported in 2015 that while only one-tenth of the world’s greenhouse gases are emitted by the 74 lowest income countries, they would be most affected by the effects of climate change.
During a three-day conference hosted by the Pontifical Academies of Science and Social Sciences in May, Pope Francis lamented the worsening data and called for urgent action “to protect people and nature,” according to Vatican News.
Our common home, is the only home we have. There is no getting out. The nearest possibly habitable planet is 4.2 light years away—a mere 80,000 years travel time using current technology. The United Nations Environment Programme has said that we need to reduce emissions by 7.6 per cent every year from 2019 to 2030. Every year humankind fails to act makes it more difficult and more costly.
Here we are, 128 years since Swedish scientist, Svante Arrhenius, hypothesised the greenhouse effect. It’s past time to cool down the kitchen. SE
