As America’s young people march in the climate strike this week and United Nations leaders discuss climate change at their summit in New York, the climate crisis is already here. Storms are becoming more powerful and desertification is threatening our food supplies. Some areas face rising sea levels while others face drought. Poor and vulnerable people are at greater risk of losing their lives and livelihoods. Those who have contributed the least to climate change are already facing the brunt of its impact.
The rest of us have to be ready to respond to the tragedies we are witnessing — the bodies still being recovered from the Grand Bahama and Abaco islands where Hurricane Dorian destroyed nearly half the homes, flooding in Bangladesh, fires in the Amazon and drought in the Horn of Africa.