The Dark Side Of Climate Change We Need To Start Talking About

Climate change, most people are aware of it, but they often don’t realise how bad it is, or all the ways it can and will impact our lives.

Whilst some of you may be happier with the warmer winters and warmer summers, there is a really dark side to climate change that no one is talking about.

I’m an online educator, I get to speak to students in other countries. We often talk about the weather and how it’s changing. More and more I am hearing stories about climate change. Family wells running dry for the first time ever, no snow in the mountains, reservoirs running dry and the government suggesting more tropical fruit to be planted.

The changes are real. They can’t be ignored.

Governments have known about the dangers of climate change for a long time but have chosen to ignore them and put profits over people and the planet. I like to say we have been treated like mushrooms, kept in the dark and fed on shit. But, we can no longer ignore what is happening, so let’s turn the spotlight onto some very important topics.

Extreme Weather

For starters, the shift in weather patterns will bring with it more extreme weather events. Floods, droughts, severe storms.

This means that food and wine harvests will be severely impacted and food shortages are likely. This, in turn, is going to push up prices.

For example, this year French wine growers resorted to extreme measures to try to save their vines from frosts. They used helicopters to disburse the cold frosty air or lit thousands of oil lamps to try and keep the ground warm and save the vines that had sprouted early in the abnormally hot weather.

Over in the USA, a mega drought forced farmers on the west coast to leave fields unplanted, significantly reducing the amount of food produced.

In May 2022, India’s extreme heat waves resulted in the government imposing a ban on wheat exports so that they could ensure their own population would have enough food. And in Spain and Portugal, severe droughts affected crops and as a result the Spanish government was forced to issue emergency financial aid to farmers.

This is just a tiny snapshot and really doesn’t give a full picture, but it’s enough to see that our food supply is threatened.

But it’s not just the shortage of food that is going to affect everyone. Climate migration is a fact that we need to start talking about.

Climate Migration

When countries become too hot to live in, people will be forced to migrate. We are already seeing this, but it’s going to get much worse.

The World Bank’s Groundswell report updated in 2021, stated that climate change could force 216 million people across six world regions to migrate. Hotspots could emerge as early as 2030.

The report states that by 2050, Sub-Saharan Africa could see as many as 86 million internal climate migrants; East Asia and the Pacific, 49 million; South Asia, 40 million; North Africa, 19 million; Latin America, 17 million; and Eastern Europe and Central Asia, 5 million.

Can you name a single country that is prepared for such a huge influx of people?

We already know what happens when you get large numbers of immigrants trying to enter a country. It brings out the best and worst in people.

This time people won’t be worrying that immigrants will be taking their jobs. This time they will be worried that the climate immigrants will threaten their survival by reducing the amount of food or habitable land that’s available to them.

The Really Dark Side

So what you might say, how does all of this affect me? It’s a government problem.

Well, when you have a shortage of food and large scale climate migration, things are going to get very ugly. Think civil unrest, rape, hate crimes, riots.

Climate change has the potential to destabilise populations, countries, governments. This is definitely going to affect you.

“Beyond the mountain is another mountain,” Chinese proverb

If we accept that there are going to be difficult times ahead and we know that areas of the world are going to be uninhabitable, we can take action to prepare for the influx of climate migrants.

It’s up to all of us to take action. It’s up to us to become activists for the planet and for ourselves.

Here’s 3 things you can do.

1. Start to grow your own food.
2. Lobby your government to focus on climate change and put people and the planet first, not money.
3. Support the activists and the guardians of nature.

To Wrap It Up

Climate change is here. Climate change is huge. Climate change is already affecting our lives. We need to accept this and step up and take responsibility for what’s happening to our planet.

It’s up to all of us to take action. It’s up to us to become activists for the planet and for ourselves.

Individually, we are weak, but together we have power.

Live Strong Love & Prosper