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In the distance, beyond the breakwater, I see a pod of Dall’s Porpoises, playing on the edge of the kelp bed. At first, I see their footprint, the signature splash that tells me there is something out there other than driftwood and birds. I settle my gaze, and sure enough, my eyes begin to see the small black dorsal fins rolling through the water. The footprints disappear in seconds, but if they had not existed, I might not have seen the porpoises at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And then there are the raindrops. Big heavy raindrops have been falling from the sky in greater abundance this year. I am not a stranger to rain, having lived in the rainforest for almost 25 years. But in the past, a rainy day often meant light misty rain that required a wool sweater, and I could still wear my Birkenstocks. Now I wear gumboots and a raincoat. Is this a footprint of climate change?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We cannot see the greenhouse gases humans have released into the air. We can not see the increased acidity of the ocean. We can only see the footprints of our actions when the temperature rises above 30\u00b0 and the algae blooms run thick along the shore or when the sea stars start to die off. And when we watch the news. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since signing the Paris Agreement in 2015, countries’ actions have steered us away from a global temperature change of 3.6\u00b0C and put us on a path to 2.6\u00b0C. And while we should take a quick moment to be grateful for this progress, we need to do more to keep the global temperature below 1.5\u00b0C. And when we get there (if we get there), what kind of footprints will we leave behind? Will the mountain peaks across the straight go from snow-covered to exposed rock? Will the glacier cooling the water at my feet disappear, causing a change in water temperature and perhaps forcing the porpoises to move on? Will the salmon survive?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a few weeks, countries are gathering in Glasgow for COP26, the global climate conference. Diplomacy will be in full gear as global leaders are pushed to leave behind an economy driven by fossil fuels and transition to the new clean, nonpolluting economy. I know that none of these leaders have felt the comfort of Sheils Bay with the rolling waves and swaying trees. But I hope they each have their place, which, even in the bland meeting rooms and slow negotiations of COP26, inspires them to do more to make the footprint of climate change, the footprint of colonialism, just that much smaller. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Addendum: <\/strong>For this post, I drew on the teachings of Per Grankvist as described by Feargus O’Sullivan in his 2019 article in Bloomberg. I wanted to use my observations to “connect a planet-scale atmospheric calamity with the reality of daily life” (O’Sullivan, 2019). I also wanted to avoid the “backfire effect” described in the 2020 comic by Inman in The Oatmeal. First, I chose to back into the topic of climate change, creating a sense of safety before linking it to the potentially bleak future. I also wanted to show how this is not a hopeless situation, that we are making progress, and people are working to minimize the impacts of climate change. Finally, in Segel (2019), the author points out that climate has long been part of our cultural stories\/history but that climate change is separated when described purely in scientific terms. I tried to integrate climate change into this story by linking it to the footprint left behind instead of focusing on the more abstract concept of climate change.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n References:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Inman, M. (2020). You\u2019re not going to believe what I\u2019m going to tell you.<\/a> The Oatmeal<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n O\u2019Sullivan, F. (2019). To survive climate change we\u2019ll need a better story. Bloomberg CityLab<\/em>. https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2019-11-11\/meet-sweden-s-chief-storyteller-for-climate-change<\/a> ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/jlash\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/904\/2021\/10\/Pano.jpg\")
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