Unit 6: Environmental, Political, and Societal Challenges

Trends in demographics 📊, coupled with migration 🛬 and increasing urbanization 🏗️🚧, are currently merging with one of the most urgent crises of our time: climate change 🌊 Climate change threatens the lives and livelihoods of billions of people. Natural disasters🌪️, environmental degradation 🌧️, and extreme weather patterns ☔ disrupt harvests 🌾, deplete fisheries 🐟, erode livelihoods 🚜, and help the spread of infectious diseases 😷 Some of these effects are felt immediately, whereas others unfold over time. Persistent drought, for example, destroys crops 🌽 and leaves people without income and food. We need efficient responses to a changing climate. These responses must be comprehensive and address all social, economic, and environmental consequences.

Just 100 companies have been the source of more than 70% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions since 1988, according to a 2017 report from the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) 🤯 The report identifies ExxonMobil, Shell, BP, and Chevron ⛽ 🏭 as being among the highest-emitting investor-owned companies since 1988. If fossil fuels 🛢️continue to be extracted at the same rate over the next 28 years as they were between 1988 and 2017, global average temperatures would be on course to rise by 4°C by the end of the century 🌡️🌡️ This is likely to have profoundly disturbing consequences, including substantial species extinction and global food scarcity risks. So what can we do?