The End?

Looks like it's time to put the lid on it and wrap up this blog. It's been an interesting and thought provoking journey, and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! Writing this blog has made me much more aware of the political factors that play into climate change, and the challenges we have ahead.

Over the 3 months I've been blogging, so much has happened. Let's take a quick look over the topics we've covered:

The blog started off with a post about the IPCC report, warning us that we have only 12 years to make drastic changes and limit damage caused by anthropogenic climate change. What seems like a grim and unattainable target for humanity may however be within reach. COP24, held earlier this month in Poland, closed with a successful conclusion. Though this is good news, we must not grow complacent. My blog post covering day one of the conference featured Sir David Attenborough's speech about climate action, but the true star of the show was Greta Thunberg, 15-year-old activist who hammered home that climate change is not child's play.

We also touched on the depiction of climate change in film (via the film First Reformed), and how the socio-political zeitgeist can be reflected in popular media. If you are interested in similar topics, Green Party MP Rupert Read co-edited a book titled Film and Philosophy, which discusses the different philosophical viewpoints that can be conveyed through film.

First Reformed depicts climate change extremism, another issue that we looked at. Earlier this month, Foreign Policy released an interesting piece on the future of terrorism, referencing the exploitation of climate change when scouting for recruits.

In the face of climate-related extremism in the future, the banning of an environmentally conscious advert for being overly political while what is arguably the most powerful country in the world has a leader who is sceptical of climate change is a fitting analogy for the amount of progress progress that needs to be made in order to truly tackle this global issue.

Let's not forget the issue of climate change and disease. Though there are a series of implications for us, those most susceptible to increased and more severe diseases are those in the global south. The flow chart below provides an insight into the climate sensitive factors that are affected, and how they all influence our health.

Image from Financial Times

The lack of interest in global health among the world's leaders will surely lead to severe consequences if not acted on quickly; climate change has been named a health emergency, after all.

Finally, with increasing uncertainty regarding Brexit, it is not clear how the UK will fare in the face of climate change. With the economy most at risk in the event of a no deal Brexit, it is uncertain whether the UK will even have the resources available to keep itself on the global stage. Will the People's Vote become a reality?

Thank you for reading and here's to a green 2019!