A look at climate change

The effects of climate change is always most apparent on the smaller islands of the world, including the Outer Hebrides. Here we can expect to experience more extreme weather events. Our climate system is very finely balanced and even small changes can have significant consequences. An extreme heat event that occured once per decade without human influence is likely to occur 4.1 times a decade at 1.5°C and 5.6 times at 2°C, according to the U.N. climate science panel (IPCC). The Earth is warming (land, air and oceans), rainfall patterns are changing (the hydrological cycle), and sea levels are rising. These events can lead to heatwaves, floods and droughts. These events can impact our food supply chain, lead to biodiversity loss, change in seasonality, cause conflict and increase climate migrants. All of these factors highlight the need for intervention as soon as possible. To look at the what the effects of climate change may mean to you, check out this BBC article.


COP28

As we head into the UN Convention on Climate Change  (COP28) Conference in United Arab Emirates from 30th November to 12th December 2023, the world is looking towards united bold, practical and ambitious efforts to address the most pressing global challenges. The themes of COP28 give us an insight into what needs to be focused on in our efforts for the future. We see that the approach is a multifacted approach that will need to include the skills from people across the discipline. The themes COP28 plan to focus on include:

• Adaptation and resilience
• Capacity-building
• Climate Finance
• Climate Technology
• Cooperative activities and SDGs
• Education & Youth
• Gender
• Global Stocktake
• Innovation
• Land Use
• Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform
• Market and Non-Market Mechanisms
• Mitigation
• Pre-2020 Ambition and Implementation
• Science
• The Ocean

Graphs taken from https://showyourstripes.info/c/europe/all a website created by Dr Ed Hawkins, University of Reading.

Local projects to exploring the climate emergency

An-Dràsta is a gàidhlig film examining how the climate emergency is affecting the Western Isles. This film is a plea from our young people to protect our shared futures. Follow the link to view: https://vimeo.com/362294002