November 11, 2015

Academics’ open letter warning of ‘catastrophe’ ahead of Paris climate conference

A clear message has been sent to world leaders to take action on climate change to avoid catastrophic global warming.

University of Wollongong (UOW) academics have been playing a pivotal role in the message to world leaders attending this month’s United Nations Climate Conference in Paris – take action immediately to avoid a future of catastrophic global warming.

About 1,800 academics from more than 70 countries have to date signed an open letter urging world leaders and delegates to the Paris conference to adopt such urgent action.

Among the luminaries to have signed the letter are Noam Chomsky, Naomi Oreskes, Kwame Anthony Appiah, Michael E.Mann, Bill McKibben and Peter Singer.

The letter was written mainly by two philosophy academics, Lawrence Torcello, an assistant professor of philosophy at Rochester Institute of Technology in the United States and Dr Keith Horton from UOW’s School of Humanities and Social Inquiry.

Dr Horton said climate change was a major threat to humanity and the ecosystems that support it.

“The strong support the letter has received demonstrates the strength of feeling among academics around the world about climate change and their understanding that the window of opportunity for effective action is closing fast.”

Lawrence Torcello described climate change as “the moral issue of our time and the greatest challenge humanity has yet faced”.

Support for the letter is being sought until November 30, when the conference begins. The conference concludes on December 11.

There are currently translations of the open letter into French and Spanish with more translations coming soon. The letter warns of catastrophic climate change unless vigorous preventative measures are taken now, and points out that the current pledges being made by world leaders ahead of the Paris conference are not enough to prevent dangerous levels of global warming even if met.

The letter points out some of the consequences of failing to take strong action on climate change would include: “more extinctions of species and loss of ecosystems; more extreme weather events; more climate-related deaths and disease; more climate refugees; slower poverty reduction; less food security; and more conflicts worsened by these factors”.

Consequently, the letter urges world leaders to limit global warming not merely to the current target of no more than 2 degrees Celsius, but to no more than 1.5 degrees.

The letter was organised at Global Climate Change Week (19 to 25 October) – an event in which UOW academics also recently played a prominent part.

It is a new initiative designed to encourage academics in all disciplines and countries to engage with their students and communities on climate change. Global Climate Change Week was a movement led by a group of Australian academics primarily based at UOW including Dr Horton and Dr Helen McGregor from the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences.

The movement aimed to mobilise academics across all disciplines and to encourage them to connect with their students and communities on climate change action and solutions.

Climate scientist Dr McGregor said: “It’s not just climate scientists that need to contribute to climate change solutions. Global Climate Change Week embraces all disciplines and sends a strong message that urgent action is needed.”

Dr George Takacs, a lecturer in physics at UOW, said: “Dealing successfully with the significant challenges of climate change will require a flexible policy approach that allows for adaptive management. This in turn will require an informed and engaged community, and this is where academics can and must play a role.”