Why climate change is an irrelevance, economic growth is a myth and sustainability is forty years too late

As someone who has been exploring the world’s most isolated wilderness regions for nearly half a century, I have some insight into the state of the planet and the human race’s current environmental befuddlement. I’ve watched the condition of the earth plummet before my eyes within my own lifespan, to the extent that I no longer recognize it as the beautiful, diverse supporter of all life it once was.

The detritus of humanity.

So let me start by addressing a few key points of confusion that seem to affect both keen activists and head-in-the-sand deniers in equal measure:

Climate change is not the biggest threat to the world’s environment – we are. The world’s rivers and seas aren’t choked with floating piles of rubbish, toxic chemicals and plastic waste because of climate change. They’re that way because we have 7.7 billion people crammed onto a planet that’s dying under the pressure of our greedy, selfish abuse. Two decades from now, the earth’s oceans are on target to contain more plastic in them (by weight) than fish. Climate change didn’t do that. Way too many people did that.

Climate change hasn’t covered the world with concrete or replaced healthy ecosystems with canal estates and shopping malls – we and our ever-increasing numbers are the culprit. Climate change is only one of many symptoms of an out-of-control disease – human overpopulation. The irreversible environmental damage stemming from having too many people on a finite planet is already painfully evident. Our bloated population is diminishing our children’s futures in ways that have very little to do with the planet’s temperature.

I keep hearing people say “Humans have always found a way to solve difficult problems, so don’t worry – it’ll all work itself out”. Alas, the problem the earth faces now is one it has never dealt with before – a plague of nearly 8 billion humans. It can’t cope anymore.

Read the story from Global Comment by Kevin Casey - “Why climate change is an irrelevance, economic growth is a myth and sustainability is forty years too late.”

How to Prep a City for Climate Change

Cities around the world already have begun responding to climate change, and a new report from the Earth Institute provides a deep analysis about the risks they face and a detailed look at what some cities are doing about it.

The 880-page report is the result of three years of work by 350 contributors and was produced by the Urban Climate Change Research Network, based at Columbia University’s Earth Institute. Network representatives last month presented the second UCCRN Assessment Report on Climate Change and Cities (ARC3.2) at the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Development (Habitat III) in Quito, Ecuador.

The work is part of a larger effort by the network to produce a resource for guiding cities in their response to climate change. The report, updated from the first version in 2011, provides expanded coverage of cutting-edge scientific research on climate change and cities. It presents climate projections and catalogues urban disasters and risks, along with the effects on Habitat III in cities.

It also gives concrete solutions for cities looking to reduce their impact on climate change and adapt to changes already underway; urban planning and design; equity and environmental justice; economics, finance and the private sector; critical urban and social sectors such as energy, water, transportation, housing and informal settlements, and solid waste management; and governing carbon and climate in

Read State of the Planet story - “How to Prep a City for Climate Change.”