There have been several tipping points in modern times that have changed our lives forever. Like 9/11 to name the one most front of mind in North America. Or, the recent Paris attacks by ISIS on Friday, Nov. 13. But, climate change, I think, represents the biggest tipping point of all.
Climate change is not just a single event on a single day, although there may be times it seems that way, like during an incident of flash flooding. More often, climate change rears its ugly head as food shortages, water shortages and habitat destruction, leaving people and animals at risk of starvation and thirst. Even vegetation cannot escape its effects. The only option is all too often migration.
For instance, take a look at what is happening with the millions of Syrian refugees. You might be surprised to learn that many of them are experiencing fallout from climate change. You might also be surprised to learn that today’s Syrian migrants could quite possibly represent the tip of the iceberg when it comes to climate change refugees. That is, unless we start doing something about climate change and fast.
How can this be, you ask?
For the Syrian people, it was like they were at the center of a perfect storm. “A severe drought, worsened by a warming climate, drove Syrian farmers to abandon their crops and flock to cities, helping trigger a civil war that has killed hundreds of thousands of people, according to a new study.…” So reports Craig Welch for National Geographic (March 2015). The study referred to is “Climate change in the Fertile Crescent and implications of the recent Syrian drought, ” published in one of the world’s most-cited scientific journals, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
This research says climate change, which worsened the region’s 2007-‘10 drought, helped contribute to violence and armed conflict leaving civilians shot at, starving and stranded. What else could Syrian civilians do but try to leave their desperate situation in hopes of finding another life somewhere else? Make no mistake, we’re talking about survival here.
This takes us to Europe where thousands upon thousands of Syrian refugees have been flooding in, putting stress on the countries accepting them. Out of an estimated nine million Syrians who fled their homes since the outbreak of civil war in 2011, 6.5 million have been displaced within Syria, three million fled to neighbouring countries and some 150,000 are seeking asylum in the European Union. Europe and Syria’s neighbours can’t possibly look after all of these people, so the rest of the world is being asked to help out, too. Thankfully, we live in a country willing to do its part.
With each Syrian being welcomed into Canada during the month of December, so far estimated at 900 people a day until 25,000 arrive, it is important to remember that these people might not have been uprooted from their homes if it weren’t for their drought, if not caused by, then certainly made worse by climate change.
It’s one thing for the world to help the Syrian people in immediate need, it’s quite another to work towards preventing climate change migration from happening in the future. Which brings us back to Paris for the upcoming climate talks, known as COP 21, starting Nov. 30.
As the world reels under the pressure of the Syrian crisis, the Paris climate talks couldn’t come at a better time. Every day we are reminded — in the faces of Syrian children and their parents fleeing civil war, in the eyes of young Syrian men and women looking to leave the bleakest of futures — of just how powerful a punch climate change can serve up. And, let’s not forget those living directly in the path of climate change: those who live on islands facing obliteration due to rising sea levels. Our modern-day world not only has the ways, but also the means, to deal with climate change. The upcoming Paris talks will tell us if we have the will.
Paris is, perhaps, our final chance to get it right. Finding the climate change commonality between the world’s (including Canada’s) humanitarian responsibilities, the Syrian situation, and the Paris climate talks—now that’s in our best interest.
For more in your best interest, follow Sheelagh on Twitter @sheesays.
