The time to change climate change is NOW
It is almost 15 months since the world came together to agree a universal climate deal in Paris aimed at “keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2° C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5° C.”
In this time, or actually in the past three weeks alone, we have learned that the rate of ocean warming has doubled in two decades, the Great Barrier Reef has been hit by back to back mass coral bleaching events, Arctic sea ice may vanish in summers this century despite climate action and in the next few weeks, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could pass the 410 parts per million threshold on a daily basis at the Muna Lao Observatory, Hawaii.
With every new climate record, planet Earth is sending us urgent signals that we are close to the upper limit of the temperature threshold set out in the Paris Agreement and, if there was ever a time for bold, innovative and smart climate action, it is now.
Even as the global momentum for addressing this challenge is increasing, nature is persistently reminding us that we have to pick up the pace. If we do not step up our efforts to reduce emissions, warming is predicted to surpass the 1.5° C threshold, the limit beyond which a number of climate impacts would become irreversible.
One of the most critical areas of action is the phase of out all fossil fuels, not only coal, and the massive scaling up renewable energy in all end uses like electricity, transport, cooling and heat. A world powered by renewable energy is possible but we need ambition and action and that is what Earth Hour 2017 is pushing for. From South Africa to India and Hungary to Uganda, WWF teams are using Earth Hour to create a groundswell of support for renewable energy and other pressing climate issues and empower people, as individuals and as a collective, to move climate action forward.
While WWF’s Living Planet Report 2016 showed us that human activity is pushing the planet to the brink, impacting its ability to cope with challenges such as climate change, the past decade of the Earth Hour movement has proved that we also have the capacity to turn things around.
Together, we can create real change but the moment is now. Transformational change is possible, and has already started. Now we need to accelerate it before it is too late. If we don’t, we risk losing the rich biodiversity of our planet and threaten the very ecosystem services on which human survival depends such as clean air, food, water and stable climate.
WWF’s Earth Hour which takes place on Saturday 25 March 8:30 p.m. is our time to show our commitment to change climate change. From Sydney to Santiago and Singapore, WWF is calling on individuals, communities, organizations and governments to shine a light on the climate action our planet urgently needs.
Together, in the past decade as global climate efforts have scaled new milestones, WWF’s Earth Hour movement has helped bridge the gap between conference rooms and living rooms.
As countries and companies have stepped up their pledges for climate action, Earth Hour has enabled the grassroots to drive people-powered environmental efforts including the adoption of climate-friendly legislation in Russia, Argentina, the Galapagos Islands and Wales; creation of a 2,700-hectare Earth Hour forest in Uganda; planting of 17 million trees in Kazakhstan; providing renewable energy fuel-efficient stoves to families in Nepal and Madagascar and lighting up homes with solar power in India and the Philippines.
As the planet stands at a climate crossroads, there is so much more we can do and our time starts now.
Together, it is possible.
Manuel Pulgar-Vidal is the global leader of WWF’s Climate & Energy Practice. He is based in Lima, Peru. mpulgarvidal@wwfint.org
