A changing climate impacts all living things
Hope is important but action leads to hope. This week the rotary club hosted Prof Wilhite, former director of National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC). Born in St. Louis and raised in Missouri, Prof. Wilhite transferred to Nebraska in 1970 after his graduate degree from the university of Arizona where he embarked on the climate resilient journey in empowering societal response to climate events. He founded the NDMC in 1995 that was geared towards improving drought response in the US through giving early warning information on the status of drought in the US. He has also worked with 47 states in the USA, UN organizations and oversees countries to help them develop a national drought response plan.
Drought affects more people than any other disaster. Climate change as a result of the increase in Green House Gases (GHG) has resulted in increased social and environmental losses. Being an agricultural state, the state of Nebraska has continued to experience the impacts of drought due to lack of water. As such, proactive response in preparing in advance of drought event is essential in reducing the impacts of drought and to reduce the cost of government in responding to the disasters. According to a study conducted in 2014 on the potential of climate change in Nebraska, humans had a big influence in the changing climate.
A changing climate impacts all living things and the vulnerable who have contributed least to climate change suffer most. Climate change is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) to be achieved by the year 2030. However, climate being threat multiplier, it is difficult to make considerable progress in all the other SDG goals without first addressing it. As such climate change is everyone responsibility. This calls for infrastructural adjustment to use green technology. However, the current leadership regimes have been reluctant in investing in climate friendly technologies. But as the saying goes, charity begins at home. As individuals there is much, we can do to reduce climate change such as using electric cars, conserving energy, recycling, and talking about climate change to families and friends.