It’s Convergence, Not Conspiracy
What’s happening worldwide about climate policy
Since the global protests of September 2019, I’ve been looking for words to describe what is happening in climate campaigning and policy formation, and for historical precedents which may help us understand where we’re going.
Calls for action are getting stronger, and they’re coming from many directions: scientists, politicians, the UN, and the emerging generation.
The World Health Organisation is warning that climate change already causes about 150,000 deaths annually, and is likely to cause about 250,000 deaths per year between 2030 and 2050.
Two of the world’s most revered religious leaders, Pope Francis and the Dalai Lama, have spoken out about the need for action, and have published their reasons at length — the Pope in his 2015 encyclical Laudato si’ and the Dalai Lama in his 2020 book Our Only Home.
When President Trump opposed calls for action on climate, he brought upon himself a level of international isolation very rare for a US President.
Trump announced in June 2017 that the USA would abandon the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation. No one else followed his example. Old friends of the US such as the UK, the EU, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand expressed…
