What is our response?
The following article appears in the May-June 2007 issue of NewsNotes, published by the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns.
On April 13, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued its most forceful report to date. The report addresses the impact of climate change regarding the following points: fresh water resources and their management; ecosystems; food, fiber and forest products; coastal systems and low-lying areas; industry, settlement, society; and health.

Some of the findings include:

<*>Drought-affected areas will likely increase in extent while heavy precipitation events will likely augment flood risk
<*>Approximately 20-30 percent of plant and animal species assessed so far are likely to be at increased risk of extinction if increases in global average temperature exceed 1.5-2.5 degrees.
<*>At lower latitudes, especially seasonally dry and tropical regions, crop productivity is projected to decrease for even local temperature increases (1-2 degrees), which would increase risk of hunger.
<*>Many millions more people are projected to be flooded every year due to sea-level rise by the 2080s. The numbers affected will be largest in the mega-deltas of Asia and Africa while small islands are especially vulnerable.
<*>Costs and benefits of climate change for industry, settlement, and society will vary widely by location and scale. In the aggregate, however, net effects will tend to be more negative the larger the change in climate.
<*>The area of health is projected to be affected extensively for millions of people, particularly those with low adaptive capacity:
<*>Increases in malnutrition and consequent disorders, with implications for child growth and development;
<*>Increased deaths, disease and injury due to heat waves, floods, storms, fires and droughts,
<*>The increased burden of diarrhea disease;
<*>The increased frequency of cardio-respiratory diseases due to higher concentrations of ground level-ozone related to climate change; and
<*>Altered spatial distribution of some infectious disease vectors.

While some parts of the world are more vulnerable than others to the immediate consequences of climate change, the report is clear in specifically naming all areas of the world — Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, Europe, Latin America, North America, polar regions and small islands — as likely to be affected.

The report received broad media coverage accompanied by startling photographic images of aspects of the planet that correspond to each category. The images have the potential for inspiring attitudinal and behavioral change that mere facts are powerless to generate. Given the responses of civil society as well as initiatives appearing in governance sectors on the state and local levels, along with recent federal court decisions upholding environmental laws previously enacted, and the Supreme Court decision regarding the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate carbon emissions, it would seem that in the United States a platform for change is being established in spite of the lack of leadership by the present administration. In the United Nations, under the leadership of the United Kingdom and supported by more than 30 nations, climate change has been introduced as a valid topic for consideration by the Security Council. Certainly, peace and security will be increasingly threatened with increased competition for dwindling resources. Perhaps this indicates a dawning realization that all things are interconnected.