If you, like me, are early in your journey as a climate advocate, then you may be, what I consider myself to be, a ‘climate eyas’. A fledgling climate advocate, excited and energetic but also fearful of the unknown, lacking the necessary skills and knowledge to spread your wings and fly. If so, then I invite you to come along with me on a journey, one that I hope, through time and experience, will mature us into powerful and effective Climate Hawks, seasoned advocates engaged in climate action.
The term Climate Hawk emerged in 2010 when a climate change writer put a question to his readers, “What should we call people who care about climate change and clean energy?” (Roberts, 2010). In a later article Roberts describes why he thinks “being a climate hawk is not easy for anyone” (2018). If you want to test his argument, then I invite you to take a few minutes to try the Financial Times Climate Game.
A Climate Hawk is a fitting metaphor that captures the zeitgeist of living in a time where strength and wisdom are needed to make necessary hard choices. It’s increasingly appearing in news headlines signaling a political stance on climate change as distinct from values of environmentalism (Joselow & Caldwell, 2022, The Energy Mix, 2022, Waldman, 2021).
When I found out that about 42% of Americans reported feeling concerned and cautious about climate change (Leiserowitz et al., 2020), I realized that there are many other fledglings out there. Through my learnings in the MACAL program I know that engagement and education have the potential to advance our collective understanding of the science behind climate change and bring those who are simply concerned and cautious into the more ‘alarmed’ stage where they are more likely to support climate policy (Leiserowitz et al., 2020), a necessary progression for a maturing Climate Hawk.
We urgently need strong climate policies and related action.
National climate change policies follow on from international agreements set through the coming together of the United Nations. However, the most recent of these, the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 27), kicked off amid a swirl of controversy, and with the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, stating
“we’re on a highway to climate hell with our foot still on the accelerator”
UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres (Reuters, 2022)
For many people here in BC, who have been feeling the impacts first hand, this statement rings especially true. We need mature Climate Hawks to help work towards policy and action and one to watch here in BC is NDP leadership challenger Anjali Appadurai, who is helping to raise critical voices. Appadurai is challenging the establishment from within to do more to equitably address the impacts of climate change (The Energy Mix, 2022).
Appadurai is not alone. Criticism of the government’s handling of the 2021 wildfires, that destroyed the town of Lytton, continues from earlier criticism of the handling of events in 2017 and 2018 which resulted in an Emergency Management Memorandum of Understanding with First Nations.
After the renewed criticism, the Provincial Government has announced the creation of the Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness.
It’s a recognition of the fact that B.C. seems to have been hit harder than most other places in Canada by climate change
Premier David Eby (quoted by Hoekstra, 2022)
The Premier’s directive to Bowen Ma, the new Minister, is that the plan must establish Indigenous peoples as “true partners and leaders” (Eby, quoted by Hoekstra, 2022). This direction aligns with that of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which has taken a step towards Indigenous self determination by engaging Indigenous authors to include traditional knowledge in an assessment chapter led by them (Constable et al., 2021, P.2325).
Having passion and knowing what actions to take are necessary to becoming as effective as someone like Appadurai. However, action can be futile without the necessary educational foundation and there are many disinformation traps to watch out for. While much effort has gone into exposing sophisticated disinformation campaigns (UCS, 2015), they have not been dismantled. In addition to targeted disinformation there are still examples of fossil fuel companies implying that they are Environment and Social Governance (ESG) leaders. According to a Swiss consultancy survey, a quarter of companies worldwide are estimated to be engaging in greenwashing or green-hushing (Byrne, 2022).
An antidote to the disinformation traps is to direct people to the IPCC as the source of truth. The IPCC’s Climate Change 2021: Summary for All succinctly explains global warming as the human caused imbalance between incoming and outgoing solar energy due to the accumulating greenhouse gases. It describes advances in climate modeling that have improved the confidence in projections of increasing multiple extreme weather events, like the kind we’ve been experiencing in BC.
Using an analogy of time travel the Summary for All describes how Shared Socio-economic Pathways (SSPs) use a range of assumptions to create stories allowing us to visualize the resulting alternate futures (2021, Conners et al.).
Despite the friendly cartoons (Figure 1) it does not sugar coat the facts.
Global warming will continue until at least about 2050 before temperatures can stabilize
Conners et al., 2021, P.9
The key learning is that we’re already locked into a certain amount of warming. This means we need to navigate through adaptation and mitigation options and balance actions with sustainability goals (Schipper et. Al., 2022, P.2666).
Engaging in Climate Change action gets complicated quickly and so continuous learning is important to the maturing Climate Hawk. Once you’re ready to move beyond the basics you’ll be ready for the technical reports which explain how balancing climate resilient development, the kind that includes transformational, equitable, and sustainable adaptation actions, alongside strong mitigation measures, greatly increases our chances of addressing the escalating impacts equitably (IPCC, 2022).
The IPCC has made learning the facts relatively straight forward but taking action, like developing adaptation plans, is much harder. A Climate Hawk should not feel like they have to know it all or do it all. Climate Services have emerged to provide assistance with developing climate strategies and adaptation plans (Canada, 2021). An example is the Northwest Territories Climate Strategy which includes a simple illustration (Figure 2) that describes how competing goals intersect (GNWT, nd) .
It’s a fact that, by achieving immediate and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, we could slow down global warming and, while not immediate, we could stabilize temperatures within twenty years (Conners et al., 2021). The challenge requires an enormous number of Climate Hawks working together. This brings us to another trait of maturity. The ability to build strong networks. We can do this by setting aside perceived value differences to engage and learn from each other and combine our strengths. If this concept resonates with you, or you have alternative ideas, I invite you to share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section.
References
British Columbia. Office of the Premier. News Release. New cabinet ready to take action on cost of living, health care, housing, climate. 2022, Dec. 7. https://archive.news.gov.bc.ca/releases/news_releases_2020-2024/2022PREM0097-001863.htm
Byrne, D. (2022, Oct. 26). What is green-hushing? Corporate Governance Institute. https://www.thecorporategovernanceinstitute.com/insights/lexicon/what-is-green-hushing/
Connors, S., Berger, S., Péan, C., Bala, G., Caud, N., Chen, D., Edwards, T., Fuzzi, S., Yew Gan, T., Gomis, M., Hawkins, E., Jones, R., Kopp, R., Leitzell, K., Lonnoy, E., Maraun, D., Masson-Delmotte, V., Maycock, T., Pirani, A., Ranasinghe, R., Rogelj, J., Ruane, A.C., Szopa, S., Zhai, P. (2021, Nov. 15). Climate Change 2021: Summary for All. Version 2. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/outreach/IPCC_AR6_WGI_SummaryForAll.pdf
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Government of Canada (2021, Dec. 17). About the Canadian Centre for Climate Services. Canadian Centre for Climate Services. https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/climate-change/canadian-centre-climate-services.html
Government of Canada. (2022, Jan. 20). CMIP6 and Shared Socio-economic Pathways overview. Canadian Climate Data and Scenarios (CCDS). https://climate-scenarios.canada.ca/?page=cmip6-overview-notes#shared-socio-economic-pathways(ssps)
Government of Northwest Territories. [No Date]. 2030 NWT Climate Change Strategic Framework. https://www.enr.gov.nt.ca/sites/enr/files/resources/128-climate_change_strategic_framework_web.pdf
Hoekstra, G., (2022-Dec. 7). Premier David Eby creates new ministry to make sure B.C. is ‘ready to go’ for next disaster. Vancouver Sun. https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/david-eby-announces-bc-emergency-management-climate-ministry.
Indigenous Services Canada (2019). Emergency Management MOU _ British Columbia Assembly of First Nations. https://www.bcafn.ca/emergency-management-MOU
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Leiserowitz, A., Maibach, E., Roser-Renouf, C., & Rosenthal, S. (2020). Global warming’s six Americas. Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/about/projects/global-warmings-six-americas/
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Roberts, D. (2018, Jan. 27). Reckoning with climate change will demand ugly tradeoffs from environmentalists – and everyone else: Being a climate hawk is not easy for anyone. Vox. https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/1/27/16935382/climate-change-ugly-tradeoffs
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The Energy Mix. (2022, Aug. 24). Eby ‘Frustrated’ After Climate Hawk Appadurai Enters B.C. NDP Leadership Race. https://www.theenergymix.com/2022/08/24/eby-frustrated-after-climate-hawk-appadurai-enters-b-c-ndp-leadership-race/
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Joselow, M & Caldwell, L. (2022, Aug. 18). The Climate 202: ‘The three climateers’ represent a new type of Climate Hawk on Capital Hill. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/18/the-three-climateers-represent-new-type-climate-hawk-capitol-hill-2/
Waldman, S. (2021, July 13). Senate’s ‘quiet’ climate hawk sells a CES to moderates. E&E News. Climate Wire. https://www.eenews.net/articles/senates-quiet-climate-hawk-sells-a-ces-to-moderates/