A boy wearing a mask and life jacket steers the boat as his family flees bushfires at Mallacoota, Victoria, Australia on 30 December 2019. Photo: ABC News (Australia)
31 December 2019 (Desdemona Despair) – Australia is on the front line of global warming, so it’s perhaps no surprise that many of the doomiest images of 2019 capture climate catastrophes in Australia, from flooding to bushfires.
But 2019 was also the year that educated young people mobilized to push back against inaction on climate policy. Dr Doreen Stabinsky, professor of global environmental politics at the College of the Atlantic, remarked:
“It is no wonder youth around the world are taking to the streets to demand that we write a different story towards a better future – a story where we take urgent and immediate actions now to stop the emissions that are leading to these devastating disasters.”
If any photo captures the zeitgeist of 2019, it’s this one: a boy wearing a mask and a life jacket steers the boat as his family flees to escape the bushfires in Australia.
As we enter the third decade of the 21st century, youth must grab the tiller and steer society through the global catastrophe wrought by their short-sighted, greedy ancestors.
By Christopher C. Burt 13 July 2018 (Weather Underground) – The first five months of 2018 were the fourth warmest in global records going back to 1880, according to NOAA. Along the way, a number of extreme heat events have...
By Mike Gaworecki30 December 2015 (mongabay.com) – As 2015 comes to a close, Mongabay is looking back at the year that was. This year saw President Obama reject the Keystone pipeline as historic droughts and a vicious wildfire season wracked...
16 March 2014 (PhysOrg) – A study led by the University of Leeds has shown that global warming of only 2°C will be detrimental to crops in temperate and tropical regions, with reduced yields from the 2030s onwards. Professor Andy...