CIVIL ACTION FOR CLIMATE CRISIS: OUR INSIGHTS FROM KUGA TALKS 8
On the 5th of May, we had Pınar Kocabıyık, the Chairman of the Board of Yuvam World Association, as our guest in Kuga Talks. She has kindly shared her knowledge and experience on climate crisis with us and also, mentioned our responsibilities as individuals in order to prevent the further progression of this ongoing climate crisis.
Unfortunately, many of us have still do not realize the severity of the situation regarding the climate crisis. Today, draughts are spreading across the globe and occurring more frequently to the extent that agricultural products can no longer be cultivated in certain regions in the world. Although climate crisis is currently more prominent and visible with its impacts on the agricultural industry, its negative impact will soon spread to other industries as well, beginning with the tourism industry. If we do not start to take determined and effective actions for changing certain things now, our future does not look very bright as emphasized by Mrs. Kocabiyik. She predicts that we will witness internal conflicts and great migrations as a result of the climate crisis in the near future. The cost of the ongoing climate crisis is also increasing day by day as we continue to sustain our ignorant attitude: last year, the climate crisis caused 145-million-dollar worth of damage to the world.
Even in this period of the pandemic, in which everyone stayed in their homes, it was not possible to ignore the effects of the climate crisis on our world. Although significant improvements were seen in air pollution due to reduced travel, it did not have a significant impact on the greenhouse gas emissions as the production still continued. If you were to think about it, the pandemic can be interpreted as the result of the climate crisis and it is predicted that in the future communicable diseases, especially those carried by animals, will begin to spread northward and pandemics will become our new reality. In addition, during the pandemic period, we lost many green areas and living things in the fires in Australia and California. In the future, their effects are expected to increase exponentially and progress rapidly. It is estimated that by 2050, Madrid’s climate will be similar to Marrakech and London’s climate will be similar to Barcelona. As it can be seen, the climate crisis is happening right in front of our eyes yet we are still insisting to ignore it as we draw black curtains on our eyes.
Yuvam World Association is working hard to raise awareness about the climate crisis and to take collective action. With the slogan “One Day Is Now”, they emphasize that the climate crisis is a global issue that cannot be postponed any longer. Two main approaches appear to us in this regard: 1 — Reducing and 2 — Adapting. Mrs. Kıvılcım explained these two approaches to us based on the example of the response of Hong Kong and the Philippines to the typhoon. The same typhoon storm hit these two countries at the same time. The damage it caused to the Philippines was so great that life in the country stopped for a long time because of the deep effects it left. By comparison, the typhoon’s damage to Hong Kong was minimal, and life was already back to normal just a few hours after the storm. Just like Hong Kong, we need to learn to use the limited resources we have effectively and change quickly. We will need to change our habits. We will need to change the rate at which we deal with crises. Besides, it is already time to fully embrace the role of the conscious consumer. When buying something, ‘how many times will I use it? The question should never leave our minds. Only then can we begin to change things and prevent the climate crisis.
In this collective step that we will take, creating a trend through social media and encouraging people will not only cause the cultural change we are aiming for, but also pave the way for a social change. A trend recently started by young people in Sweden has proven how damaging is flying to the environment, and they have judged the culture of flying across the country. As a result, citizens in Sweden have turned to less damaging alternatives for their short-distance journeys. Like this trend, we can create awareness in many different areas and pave the way for the change we desire.
What does Yuvam World Association do?
Yuvam World Association is a new generation association that fights against the climate crisis and aims to transform every segment of society. They are making efforts for this in many areas and we would like to mention a few of them here. They work to include the ‘Environment and Climate Change’ course as an elective course in the secondary school curriculum. At such a young age, children can be conscious of the climate crisis and we can raise a generation that is aware of it. Yuvam World Library, on the other hand, aims to add the world’s best climate books to our country so that the public’s awareness on this issue can increase. They also continue to work on the development of the Carbon Foot Print App. This app is intended to be used as a tool to start a trend and measure the damage individuals do to the Earth everyday based on their activities. Finally, they actively produce new content every day to raise awareness on this issue by publishing a weekly digital magazine and organizing art projects.
Mrs. Kıvılcım’s presentation was both very informative and enlightening. As people living on this Earth and sharing it with other living things, we all have responsibilities and together with small changes, we can fight the climate crisis. Below are the top 8 ways to start your fight. We look forward to seeing you in this fight with us.
By Zeynep Bengi Eren
