No One Is Too Small To Make A Difference

Lesson 1. Introduction

Greta Thunberg is a Swedish girl who realised that global climate change was a threat to mankind and other creatures when she was eight years old. She is surprised that climate change is not everyone's top worry as someone who sees things in black and white. The house of humanity is on fire. 

In 2018, when she was fifteen years old, she went on strike from school and staged a one-person protest in front of the Swedish Parliament. This lonely activity was also a good fit for her personality. As a result of the attention, she became a major figure in global climate change demonstrations.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a rise in global temperatures of more than 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2030 will very certainly set off a series of chain reactions that will irreversibly alter the planet's climate. The consequences will very certainly spell the end of civilisation as we know it. 

Because of factors like methane produced by thawing Arctic permafrost, certain physical processes such as feedback loops exist. Some future warming is already locked in, but the sunlight-blocking effects of air pollution are presently “hiding” it.

The problem has a simple but radical solution: we must drastically cut greenhouse gas emissions by leaving fossil fuels in the ground. If we conceive about global warming in terms of a "carbon budget," cumulative emissions of 420 gigatons from 2018 to 2030 will give us a 67 percent probability of staying below 1.5 degrees Celsius. 

There is only a 50% probability of keeping below the 1.5-degree limit if world emissions are 580 gigatons during the same time period, which would basically require cutting emissions in half by 2030. The demise of human civilisation becomes a coin flip at that moment. Any strategy that will function on a global basis must include equity. This means that the wealthier countries will have to make the majority of the emission reductions. Poorer countries need to be given a chance to modernise their economy.

There is still time to fix the situation, but it is rapidly evaporating. Thunberg is regularly told that she and other protesting students should be in class instead of lecturing policymakers. Her response to this issue is simple: it's OK if people want to ignore her and the other youngsters. Pay attention to the facts, though. Pay attention to the experts.

Lesson 2. The Problem

The Paris Climate Change Agreement aims to limit global warming below 2 degrees Celsius. Any higher temperature rise, according to Thunberg, is a horror scenario. According to prominent scientists, there is only a