“Remember our duty to nature before it is too late,” Margaret Thatcher warned. “That duty is constant. It is never completed. It lives on as we breathe.” A prophetic statement with regard to the current catastrophic climate emergency we are facing. More astute in that she recognized as a scientist and politician that conservative, as well as bipartisan, political agendas must advance the idea of protecting the climate. So, Jessica I. Marschall, CEO and Mayur Dankhara, COO of The Green Mission Inc. came to a conference organized by The Daily Beast, “A Race to Save the World”, October 24th, with hopeful hearts to hear passionate discussions ranging from climate change to health and social justice, and biodiversity. All these brilliant speakers, advocating for movement and governance. For what is more conservative and transformative than recognizing that by protecting the climate we are securing a future legacy for generations to come?
When 7.6 million young people understand there is a “Climate Emergency” and respond with, “We Vote,” we realize that as a nation we are failing our children. The urgency of action, Robert Orr, Dean of the University of Maryland’s Public Policy and United Nations Advisor, argued, is exemplified by Greta Thornberg’s plea, “You are failing us.” And how do we scale the urgency of global climate change? Orr proposes a four step agenda: redirect economic incentives, transform industry’s focus to alternate forms of clean energy, put nature back into the equation, and reorganize government’s perspective to effect legislation and regulation. The message was clear, that when communities of scientists, activists, and international humanitarian coalitions band together to advance the movement, powerful transformations can begin to shape people’s persuasions and the policies of governance.
After the introductory speaker’s discussions on the global climate change movement as a whole, the conference focused intently on how climate change affects the global health agenda. Think Ebola, SARS, antimicrobial antibiotic resistance to infections here. Educating people on data driven solutions to scientifically based research clearly is needed to combat the increases we see in the occurrences of pandemics, infectious diseases, and chronic diseases caused by the effects of global climate change such as air pollution and tainted water. And when the single greatest indicator of health in the United States is a person’s zip code, speakers Jackie Kucinich and Laurence Gostin stated, global health unapologetically is linked to socio-economic inequalities with regard to universal health coverage, public health service, and factors relating to income, education, housing, and gender equality.
Later in the afternoon, topics revolved around the effects of the climate crisis on our limited natural resources with regard to the global food industry. What happens when millions of people do not have adequate access to food, proper nutrition, and clean water? “If we starve,” Pete Person from the World Wildlife Foundation said, “climate costs are too high.” The urgent need for sustainable food sources and food security has reached unconscionable levels as 70% of the earth’s fresh water supply and biodiversity has been lost to poor agricultural practices. Value must be placed on food from every point on the food chain. And government intervention is needed, Person advocates, to promote economic incentives to sustainable agriculture and waste management practices. We cannot continue to waste 1.3 billion tons of food each year when that is enough to feed the hungry.
We greatly appreciated being involved in a spirit of activism displayed at the conference. We know that global health and food security, like the climate change movement, cannot be promoted as a partisan issue. It may rightly be called an inherent issue of education because the movement’s scientific data is irrefutable. So what can we do when these efforts are thwarted by media outlets disseminating misinformation (think of the anti-vax movement), calling facts “fake news” and a president in office who names a climate change denier to head the climate scientist committee? First, we believe in promoting grassroot organizations, churches, and civic organizations at the community level to create more dialogue needed to build bipartisan consensus within the movement. This is a step in the green direction. Secondly, it is imperative that the movement capitalize on the increasing activism of millennials who are in tune with what’s happening in this world and are poised to make their voices heard. And finally, rediscover our common humanity to make this world a better place and the power of the people to effect change. “Remember our duty to nature before it is too late. That duty is constant. It is never completed. It lives on as we breathe.”
