Fishing for Yellowstone Cutthroats in Yellowstone National Park (photo: W. Tilt)
As reported in Moldy Chum, Greg Fitz’s article, “Restoring Resilience: Anglers Must Lead on Climate Change” challenges the angling community to be leaders in addressing climate change. “As anglers, we are seeing the changes play out in our fisheries and watersheds in real-time,” Greg observes, “especially if they depend on cold water, an increasingly precious and fragile commodity.”
The article’s focus is the February 2022 release of the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) latest assessment of the current scope and expanding impacts of the warming climate. The IPCC report’s conclusion is that the impacts of climate change are arriving faster and more severe than previously predicted and it calls for urgent efforts to move away from burning fossil fuels. The report makes it clear that we still have time to avoid the worst impacts, but that we have acted too slowly to not avoid all of them. Greg’s message is both urgent and hopeful.
“Fundamentally, stopping climate change comes down to energy production, efficiency, and utilization. We need to quickly deploy clean energy on a massive scale, shift fossil fuel burning machines to those powered by electricity or zero-carbon fuels, and find ways to make our food systems less carbon intense. Individuals can help this process on a personal level by adding solar panels to their homes or business, driving electric vehicles, changing their diets, disconnecting the gas line to their house and using electric appliances for heating and cooking, and supporting businesses that do the same. But, ultimately, the scale of change required to transform our energy systems requires supporting the political and economic policies needed to continue improving the clean energy technologies, make them affordable, and replace fossil fuel burning.
“Decarbonizing our energy systems will be a monumental task filled with compromises and difficult decisions. It is necessary and urgent work. We have the tools and technology required, and we can use and move energy far more efficiently than we do now, but we need to accelerate the work.”
Greenhouse gases can come from a range of sources and climate mitigation can be applied across all sectors and activities. These include energy, transport, buildings, industry, waste management, agriculture, forestry, and other forms of land management. Photo: Karsten Würth, Upsplash
Mitigating Impacts
Taking action requires a focus on the mitigation of climate change, i.e., taking actions that reduce the rate of climate change. According Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change, authored by the IPCC Working Group III, mitigation will be achieved by limiting or preventing greenhouse gas emissions and by enhancing activities that remove these gases from the atmosphere.
The IPCC’s reports are tough reads for those of us not accustomed to reading technical reports, especially those written by large committees (the Climate Change 2022’s “Summary for Policymakers” is 64 pages long). The World Resources Institute takes a stab at boilings it down in its 6 Big Findings from the IPCC 2022 Report on Climate Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability which points out the rapidly closing window of opportunity:
1. Climate impacts are already more widespread and severe than expected.
2. We are locked into even worse impacts from climate change in the near-term.
3. Risks will escalate quickly with higher temperatures, often causing irreversible impacts of climate change.
4. Inequity, conflict and development challenges heighten vulnerability to climate risks.
5. Adaptation is crucial. Feasible solutions already exist, but more support must reach vulnerable communities.
6. But some impacts of climate change are already too severe to adapt to. The world needs urgent action now to address losses and damages.
The WRI article concludes, “Coming to grips with the climate crisis will not be easy. Governments, civil society and the private sector must all step up. As the IPCC report makes clear, there is no alternative. And that is where the angling community must step up.