|
News
about climate problems comes barreling at us every day. Just
last week, it was in the form of thick, hazy smoke from
wildfires burning out of control in eastern Canada. Some
friends of mine in New York City said it smelled like a
campfire – indoors. What I heard from family and friends was
fear, sadness and apathy. “What can one person do?” my friend
Cynthia asked me. “The news is always the same on climate, and
it is always bad.”
True,
but there are solutions to the climate crisis. None are easy.
But consider this: Last year, for the first time, the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change highlighted the
power of behavioral change to force large-scale
mitigation.
At
The Conversation, we don’t shy away from documenting the
effects of climate change, but we also look at it through the
lens of solutions. Here’s a good example: Drew Shindell points
out that air pollution is often not talked about in the
same sentence as climate change. It should be. He sets out how
we can improve air quality – steps that would also provide
climate benefits.
In
Senegal there have been violent protests following the arrest
of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko. One of the government’s
reactions was to shut down the internet and social media
networks. While the government cited threats of fake news,
Jeffrey Conroy-Krutz warns
that the shutdown will be costly – both financially and
politically – and that the short-term benefits that come from
limiting protests could be outweighed by hardened and expanded
opposition among young people. | 
