Actually, It's Called a Climate Emergency

If you weren't filled with existential dread before, you will be now: On November 5th, 11,000 scientists around the world declared an unequivocal climate emergency.

You can read the full, terrifying, depressing, and very important commentary and sob/call your therapist. We'll wait/scream with you.

Despite warnings over the past 60 years, the rate at which our earth is hurtling into a point of irreversible crisis has only accelerated. These scientists predict that these climate change reactions could make "large swaths of earth uninhabitable."

This is largely due to the fact that in terms of measurable impact, it's been business as usual. Such are the dangers of greenwashing.

So what do we do?

Their take away is that, at this point, it comes down to mitigation and adaptation—figuring out how we navigate this new future in a way that's just and equitable. In Donna Haraway's words, it's about staying with the trouble.

"The good news," say the scientists, "is that such transformative change, with social and economic justice for all, promises far greater human well-being than does business as usual."

And the first step in dealing with any emergency or problem is admitting that you have one.

As an encouraging start, Oxford Dictionary has named "climate emergency" its 2019 word of the year out of an all-environmental shortlist that included “climate action,” “climate denial” and “eco-anxiety.”

Time to talk and walk, y'all.

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