Üsküdar Üniversitesi Head of Philosophy Department Prof. Dr. İbrahim Özdemir's article written for Perspektif Magazine:
Climate change and its devastating consequences continue to affect our world. So, what changes is the world witnessing? What are our responsibilities in this process?
Climate change and its devastating consequences directly affect the rest of our lives, our future, and furthermore, our children's and grandchildren's right to live in a healthy and safe world. Think for a moment: Has our planet gone for better or worse in the last 50 years? Despite many legal developments concerning the environment, narrow-minded politicians who do not consider the future, prioritizing saving the day, the week, and the next election, have not taken the necessary measures. They are still reluctant to do so.
The message from climate change is clear and distinct: Modern human lifestyles, production, and consumption habits have an enormous impact on the delicate balances in the world: The air is warming; waters, lakes, seas, and oceans are being polluted and poisoned. All living things, especially humans, are affected by this. With the recent events we have witnessed, people from all walks of life have finally begun to understand the destructive and devastating consequences of climate change by seeing and experiencing them.
In many countries and regions around the world, unprecedented fires, floods, hurricanes, droughts, and the resulting human tragedies are being experienced. As a result of natural disasters, people embark on journeys into the unknown to hold onto life, find food and work. The number of international migrants resulting from this has already exceeded sixty-five million, according to United Nations (UN) figures. While the phenomenon of migration continues to affect all countries, it also fuels xenophobia in many countries, paving the way for the strengthening of racist and fascist views. For all these reasons, we must deeply reflect on global warming and climate change.
Climate Change and Global Warming
As an academic working on environmental issues since the 1990s, together with my environmentalist colleagues, we have tried to draw attention to climate change, global warming, and the problems that have arisen and will arise as a result. The Earth Charter, declared to the world in March 2000 at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, was like a summary of these efforts:
“We stand at a critical moment in Earth’s history, a time when humanity must choose its future. As the world becomes increasingly interdependent and fragile, the future stands in peril.
Amidst a magnificent diversity of cultures and life forms, we must recognize that we are one human family and one Earth community with a common destiny.
We must join together to bring forth a sustainable global society founded on respect for nature, universal human rights, economic justice, and a culture of peace.
Towards this end, we, the peoples of Earth, must declare our responsibility to one another, to the greater community of life, and to future generations.”
Twenty years have passed. There are still governments and politicians accustomed to traditional development, who are still unwilling to understand the negative impact of fossil fuels and traditional economic development on global warming. For example, many countries, especially the USA, continued to contribute to fossil fuel-based growth, and thus to global warming. The desired investments in renewable and environmentally friendly alternative energy and a green economy are still not being made. However, when we look at the consequences of climate change for America, the world's sixth-largest economy, it might be easier to understand what this means for the rest of the world:
In giant California, with a population of 38 million, which supplies half of the USA's entire grain food, the biggest drought since 1500 is being experienced.
In some regions, tap water has been replaced by the distribution of PET bottled water.
Due to the loss of 63 trillion gallons of groundwater in the state over the last 18 months, there has been an average rise of 0.4 centimeters in the Earth's crust!
The situation is even worse in the state's parched mountains: there, the Earth's crust also rose by approximately 1.25 centimeters last year!
The alarming rise that began in 2013 is still continuing. But the inverse is also true: Drying wells, fields forced into fallow, and the depletion of groundwater lead to soil subsidence of 30 centimeters per year!
A similar situation applies to South Africa. The consequences of climate change are manifesting everywhere. What is interesting is that some still fail to understand the true cause of the forest fires from California to Australia and in countries bordering the Mediterranean. Instead of delving into the root causes of problems created by climate change and doing what is necessary, they try to save the day with temporary measures. They have almost no effort to ensure their children and grandchildren live in a healthier world.
The World is Waking Up
Investigative journalist and author Elizabeth Kolbert details the devastating consequences of climate change in her book, "The Sixth Extinction." According to the author, the fires in Australia were the latest in a series of events in 2019 that demonstrated the seriousness of climate change. All sensitive people who watched this massive fire and the destruction it caused, the turning to ash of kangaroos and other animals, symbols of that country, finally began to understand the situation. Therefore, Kolbert described 2019 as "the year the world woke up to climate change." She cited heatwaves in India and Japan, and France and Germany reaching their highest summer temperatures, as examples of alarm bells.
Finland, where I have lived for two years, also experienced its hottest summers in history. According to Kolbert, the increase in temperatures will continue, and the next decade will definitely be hotter than the last. This means that these impacts, which we have long ignored, unheard, and misunderstood, will continue to be with us for a long time. There's no need to be a prophet to predict the consequences. It is enough to listen to scientists: As a result of global warming, temperatures will continuously rise, and greater damage will occur at high temperatures. Drought will be more relentless.
What is the Solution?
As environmentalists, we have been calling for a sustainable economy and a sustainable life for years. Many studies have been conducted on renewable energy sources. Models for sustainable development have been presented. As a result of these efforts, at the UN Millennium Summit held in September 2000, 189 countries signed the United Nations Millennium Declaration on the most urgent issues of sustainability today. In this declaration, they pledged to achieve the fundamental development goals encompassing human well-being, environmental issues, and global cooperation by 2015.
The year 2020 is drawing to a close. Most of these goals have not been achieved. There are still those who are unaware of the situation; who act as if nothing is happening. Especially politicians suffering from short-sightedness and future blindness… How right was 16-year-old Swedish Greta Thunberg, who started school strikes to protest narrow-minded politicians!
The warning given by firefighters, who have been working day and night and risking their lives for months to extinguish the forest fires in Australia, is not only to their citizens but to the whole world: “Truly waking up indicates something beyond wishing everything would get better, and it's much more urgent than ever. The world is in danger! We must act immediately to survive.”
In his book "What is Enlightenment?", written in 1784, German philosopher Kant invited all of us to have the courage to use our own understanding. We too, in the face of the unnatural events we are experiencing, must once again show the courage to reflect on global warming and climate change with an ecological and holistic perspective. We cannot leave this issue to politicians and greedy multinational corporations.
There is No Other World
We must not forget that we will live the rest of our lives in this world with our children and grandchildren. There is no other planet yet. Furthermore, we must introduce our children to these problems and encourage them to find creative solutions. Our ancestors, our fathers, and we have lived largely dependent on fossil fuels. However, the extraordinary events we are experiencing indicate that we have reached the end of the road.
We must discover and develop renewable and clean energy sources. In doing so, fossil fuel producers and their powerful lobbies, who are unwilling and unmotivated to renew themselves, may create various obstacles for us. We must embark on this struggle for ourselves, our children, our grandchildren, and other living beings. Let's not forget: For now, there is no other world to go to; no other home for us!
As former Federal German Chancellor Willy Brandt warned years ago: “The new generations of the world do not only need economic solutions; perhaps they need ideas to inspire them, a hope to give them courage. They also need to believe in humanity, human dignity, fundamental human rights; in justice, freedom, peace, mutual respect, love and generosity, and in reason rather than power.”
The views and attitudes of Muslim societies and individuals on climate change must be clear and distinct. It is regrettable that the vast majority of Muslim countries are not even aware that their economic models are unsustainable; that they do not determine their development strategies and policies in the light of reason and scientific data. When we look from an Islamic worldview, the situation is clear and distinct: Allah created and continues to create the universe with all its diversity, richness, and vitality, including the stars, the Sun, the Moon, the Earth, and all living creatures within it.
All these beings reflect the Creator's immense glory and mercy. Created beings naturally serve the Creator, glorify Him, and all are servants of Allah. We humans must also strive to serve Allah; to do what is best for all species, all individuals, and all generations created by Allah. Therefore, it is essential that all our actions related to humanity and the universe; our development plans and strategies, are built upon these principles. The essence of the struggle against climate change and its devastating consequences must be the awareness that we are morally responsible to all living beings, to humans, and to future generations.
Prof. Dr. İbrahim Özdemir
Source: Perspektif Magazine
News Link: https://perspektif.eu/2020/11/30/iklim-degisikliginin-verdigi-mesaj-net-dunyamiz-tehlikede/