By: Brady Hill
Commuting into Boulder, Colorado, every day, I see scars on the Earth caused by an increasingly unpredictable climate. At a single vantage point driving down into Boulder Valley, I can point out wildfire burn zones from the Fourmile Canyon Fire in 2010, Lefthand Canyon Fire in 2011, Flagstaff Fire in 2012, Calwood Fire in 2020, Marshall Fire in 2021, and NCAR Fire in 2022 (1,2). The most memorable of these blazes was the recent Marshall Fire, which occurred on December 30th, 2021. Instead of a holiday winter-wonderland that Coloradans regularly experience, Coloradans were greeted with the most residentially-destructive wildfire in state history, which ripped through entire suburbs within a single windy day and destroyed 991 homes in its wake (3). Fortunately, the fire’s reign was brief, as snow the very next day helped to extinguish the flames. While the start of this fire still remains uncertain, the conditions that led to its rapid spread and mass destruction can be attributed to high and even hurricane-force winds blowing over a region that had seen vastly below average precipitation over the summer and fall, after previously experiencing a wetter than average spring (4). The bountiful spring growth shriveled over a dry half-year; snow specifically remained elusive during this dry-spell, as the nearby city of Denver recorded its latest first snowfall of the season on record (4). Regardless of what caused the spark of the fire, the winds and exceptionally dry conditions took care of the rest.

So what is an individual to do with these relentlessly stressful climate trends that we read about, and now see with our own eyes in the regions in which we live? Climate change is no longer a hypothetical scientific argument that we heard Al Gore talk about in a documentary that one time. Through actual events and tragedies, a future with climate change is being painted into more detail with every passing year. How does one deal with the relentless anxiety that comes with seeing it affect our daily lives, whether it be locally, through social media, or dominating our news feeds? What does one do with the daily reminders of the global hardships on the horizon? How does one reconcile their hopes and dreams for their future, such as raising a family, when the future is so uncertain?

First of all, we have to find ways to act individually, despite the scope. Voting is an obvious first step. Vote to put people in power that make climate action a central aspect of their platform, both nationally and locally. Maybe you cut back on foods products whose production leads to significant carbon emissions and encourage others to do so as well. Maybe you improve your waste, trash, and recycling habits, as the methane from waste and landfills is an even more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide within the first 20 years in the atmosphere. Maybe you ensure that your next car purchase is electric. Naysayers may say that electric cars still produce emissions through the battery manufacturing process, or because of the fact that the energy to charge them comes from an electric grid that relies on coal. That’s where hope and expectation come into play.
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We have to hold on to hope, and in many cases, expectation. Yes, electric car batteries are not “emission-free”, but in situations like this we have to hope and expect that everyone and everything else in society moves in the right direction to address this issue. For example, if we buy electric, we need to hope and expect that the grid will achieve its goals of becoming carbon free, through economic pressures, regulation, or otherwise. We have to expect that manufacturing processes that generate these batteries are also affected by these trends and continue to become more sustainable. The individual action is driven by their expectation that the rest of society will also make the necessary changes to ensure a more sustainable future. On a larger scale, we must hope and expect that global leaders at conferences like the annual United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of Parties (COP) can actually make a difference in preventing the warming of our planet. On the individual level, we must vote these people into power.

These hopes and expectations are key to addressing this challenge of our species — everyone must focus on what they can individually do, and expect everyone else to act and move in the same direction. This is the only way to address this challenge of our species; otherwise, discouragement and anxiety about the state of our planet will only lead to individual inaction. We must not relinquish hope and expectation. We must continue to act, and we must not forget to expect the same out of ourselves that we do out of the rest of society.
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References:
1. https://assets.bouldercounty.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/11292016-updated-wildfire-history.pdf
2. https://www.bouldercounty.org/disasters/wildfires/
3. https://www.denverpost.com/2021/12/30/colorado-most-destructive-wildfires/
4. https://www.climate.gov/news-features/event-tracker/wet-then-dry-extremes-contributed-devastating-marshall-fire-colorado
5. https://www.denverpost.com/2021/12/31/marshall-fire-boulder-county-friday/
6. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-western-us-is-experiencing-the-worst-megadrought-in-more-than-1200-years-180979590/
7. https://www.indiatimes.com/news/world/lake-powell-water-levels-us-lowest-since-1963-climate-change-drought-565683.html
8. https://www.denverpost.com/2022/05/10/colorado-snow-pack-melt-drought-fire/
9. https://ukcop26.org/glasgow-leaders-declaration-on-forests-and-land-use/
10. ​https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/

by: Jordon Horton

The impacts of climate change are being felt with many lacking the necessary infrastructure to protect against drought and floods. The United Nation acknowledges this need for a call to action. Nearly 2.3 billion people are facing water stress with over 160 million children exposed to severe droughts. Data showing that more will experience drought and water resource issues has led to a big shift to climate change adaptation.​
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Heavy investment in water and sanitation is a significant factor affecting health, the environment, and economic growth. In combating climate change, many developing countries are faced with difficult decisions surrounding management of their resources and interconnectivity with the global economy. Ruth Greenspan Bell is a Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars who has been looking at this climate dilemma.
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Immediate change could be achieved in regions with high fossil fuel resources but requires the price of intensive extraction. Following global recommendations of protecting forests and other environmental systems, developing countries are then left to wait for the financial support of developed countries. Rapid shift in the United States’ commitment to upholding climate agreements across administrations produces a lot of a risk for developing countries to wait for wavering support. If developed countries could use the extraction of resources from developing countries for their economic development, why can’t these countries use their own resources to support themselves? Wilson Center NOW hosted Ruth Greenspan Bell during which she further discusses the crossroads of developing nations to combat climate change versus increased development of fossil fuels.

COP 27 is will host key discussions on the governance for integrating resource management with climate change.