ºclimo #3: Climate ‘Apocalypse’? It’s already catastrophic for much of the Global Poor – Yet there’s still Hope

Following a time of ferocious wildfires ripping through Britain, starting in winter, some of us may now be seriously questioning whether the ‘end is nigh’. So has the time finally come to stock up on baked beans and run for the hills? Should we be on the lookout for War, Famine, Death and Conquest – the notorious four horsemen of the apocalypse?

(Note to any despairing readers: bear with me, I give the reasons for ‘hope’ a bit further down)

It seems like Europe is probably safe for now, but elsewhere the story is different. Tragically, many of these four horrors are already here for much of the global poor. Therefore it could be argued the impacts of climate breakdown are already ‘apocalyptic’ for part of our planet. And while it may be difficult to prove that war and conquest in places like Syria are connected to climate change, there are clear examples of global death and famine that are already associated with the rising temperatures.

For example, within a climate change article in February The Guardian noted how, in Madagascar ‘more than a million people went hungry as corn, cassava and rice fields withered under drought and severe El Niño conditions. Almost half the country’s children have been stunted, but their suffering sparked few headlines’.

Aside from the plain injustice of millions going hungry, the situation may also cause concern from triggering mass migration. And as Professor Jem Bendell has suggested, with El Niño combining forces with sky-high levels of CO2 and methane, it’s not difficult to imagine how during the next 10 years – or even this summer – we may possibly experience a refugee crisis even larger than the crisis in Syria. (Although I should add I feel this is far from certain).

But as I’ve argued here, rather than abandon our border controls (which could inflame the far-right), or build higher walls, there is a third way to reduce migration. That’s for wealthier nations to work with, and learn from, farmers in poverty to invest in a revolutionary programme of agri-tech solutions for adaptation to drought. Obviously we need to reject the white saviour notion that the ‘West knows best’, so this may also mean learning from existing local solutions of regenerative agriculture.

A really uplifting example of this regenerative agro-ecology is the Tigray region of Ethiopia. Here, local villagers have constructed huge networks of terraces and earthy mounds to help capture rainwater from the hillsides, combined with restoration of trees, and large-scale planting of saplings.

Chris Reij, from the World Resources Institute claims: “The scale of restoration of degraded land in Tigray is possibly unmatched anywhere else in the world. The people …may have moved more earth and stone [in recent years] to reshape the surface of their land than the Egyptians during thousands of years to build the pyramids”. The results are impressive too. According to the International Food policy research institute, the outcome is an extra half million tonnes of food grown across Ethiopia, together with a rise in incomes and biodiversity.

Another reason for hope is that this could be an opportunity for drought-afflicted England to learn from ‘green and pleasant’ Ethiopia, in a role reversal that echoes Black Panther. This could even create thousands of jobs as part of a Green New Deal that many are now fighting for. The jobs of course would need to be tailored to local contexts, so East Anglia for example might need to learn from Egypt’s vast expanse of irrigated greenhouses, combined with crop varieties that demand less rainwater in the first place. The possibilities are endless. All that’s needed now is a sprinkle of imagination and political ambition.

So returning to the title – yes, life may indeed be apocalyptic for many across the globe. But there is hope because, as Evans explains in the Myth Gap, the apocalypse has a double meaning. From the Ancient Greek it also means a great ‘revelation’ of knowledge. So while the wildfires rage, the Arctic melts, and the oceans rise, my hope is that many lives will be saved as our eyes open, and the full spectrum of opportunities from climate adaptation are finally revealed.

(If you’ve been affected by the thought of climate-related famine, maybe consider if you could offer some hope by donating to charities such as CARE International. A donation of £5 via the link below is able to provide 3 months of life-saving nutritious meals in the Sahel region of northern Africa. See here for further info about how climate change is affecting the region ).

https://www.careinternational.org.uk/stories/children-balki-deserve-life-live

Jeremy Brown, 29, Surrey

MA student of Climate Change and Extinction Rebellion member, with an interest in the moral dilemmas of ‘saving the planet’

Visit Jeremy’s climate project: https://www.guardiansoftheplanet.co.uk/