 Global Integration UpdatesCommon Ground for the Common Good Be the people we need--Build the world we need
Special News--September 2021Code Red for Humanity
UN Climate ReportClimate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis (August, 2021)
Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
"Climate change is widespread, rapid, and intensifying,
and some trends are now irreversible, at least during the present time frame."UN News on the IPCC Report (9 August 2021) Image courtesy and ©2020 JMLOD
Harkness Park, Waterford, CT USA"Today’s IPCC Working Group 1 report is a code red for humanity. The alarm bells are deafening, and the evidence is irrefutable: greenhouse‑gas emissions from fossil-fuel burning and deforestation are choking our planet and putting billions of people at immediate risk. Global heating is affecting every region on Earth, with many of the changes becoming irreversible. The internationally agreed threshold of 1.5°C is perilously close. We are at imminent risk of hitting 1.5°C in the near term. The only way to prevent exceeding this threshold is by urgently stepping up our efforts and pursuing the most ambitious path." UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Statement on the IPCC Report (9 August 2021) ----------- In this Update we feature the latest report from the United Nation's Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This sixth report, Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis, unequivocally warns of the worsening, destructive impact of the world's human-induced climate crisis.
We also present links that provide summaries, interactive maps, etc. for the report as well as links for tracking with climate-environment developments in general. In the final section we share a few personal perspectives on being guided and motivated by "Faith, Hope, and Love as Co-Workers with God."
Practical Applications
If you have limited time and/or are not sure how much you want to look into this Report...we encourage you to at least read the short UN Summary.
Based on the Report, what are three signs-statistics of serious findings that concern you? What are three practical things that you can do?
What else would you like to read and review, including the materials included below? Do you concur that this is a code red for humanity--a science-based code red?
As always, we encourage us all in the Global Integration Updates to: Stay informed. Stay involved. Be the people we need.
See these Global Integration Updates:
--July 2021: Climate-Conflict-Corruption: Safeguarding People and the Planet
--March 2021: Global Trends–Perspectives and Priorities from the Sectors
--June 2017: Doomsday–Next Stop, Global Dis-Integration? Warm greetings,
Michèle and Kelly
MCAresources@gmail.com  Reunion after 7 months of Covid-related separation
5 September 2020, San Francisco CA USA --Share your comments and resources on our MCA Facebook page
--Forward to your colleagues and networks (link to sign up HERE).
Featured Resources
Code Red for Humanity
UN Climate Report
Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis (August, 2021)
Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 
Image courtesy and ©2020 KOD
California fires, 10am sky, 8 September 2020--San Mateo, CA USA
Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis (August, 2021). Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). "The Working Group I contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report is the most up-to-date physical understanding of the climate system and climate change, bringing together the latest advances in climate science, and combining multiple lines of evidence from paleoclimate, observations, process understanding, and global and regional climate simulations. It shows how and why climate has changed to date, and the improved understanding of human influence on a wider range of climate characteristics, including extreme events. There will be a greater focus on regional information that can be used for climate risk assessments." (quote from IPCC website)
See also:--IPCC full Report and related resources HERE
--UN brief Summary of the IPCC Report and related resources HERE
Climate Change--Widespread, Rapid, and Intensifying, IPCC Press Release (9 August 2021) “The report projects that in the coming decades climate changes will increase in all regions. For 1.5°C of global warming, there will be increasing heat waves, longer warm seasons and shorter cold seasons. At 2°C of global warming, heat extremes would more often reach critical tolerance thresholds for agriculture and health, the report shows.
But it is not just about temperature. Climate change is bringing multiple different changes in different regions – which will all increase with further warming. These include changes to wetness and dryness, to winds, snow and ice, coastal areas and oceans. For example:
--Climate change is intensifying the water cycle. This brings more intense rainfall and associated flooding, as well as more intense drought in many regions.
--Climate change is affecting rainfall patterns. In high latitudes, precipitation is likely to increase, while it is projected to decrease over large parts of the subtropics. Changes to monsoon precipitation are expected, which will vary by region.
--Coastal areas will see continued sea level rise throughout the 21st century, contributing to more frequent and severe coastal flooding in low-lying areas and coastal erosion. Extreme sea level events that previously occurred once in 100 years could happen every year by the end of this century.
--Further warming will amplify permafrost thawing, and the loss of seasonal snow cover, melting of glaciers and ice sheets, and loss of summer Arctic sea ice.
--Changes to the ocean, including warming, more frequent marine heatwaves, ocean acidification, and reduced oxygen levels have been clearly linked to human influence. These changes affect both ocean ecosystems and the people that rely on them, and they will continue throughout at least the rest of this century.
--For cities, some aspects of climate change may be amplified, including heat (since urban areas are usually warmer than their surroundings), flooding from heavy precipitation events and sea level rise in coastal cities.”
Headline Statements from the Summary for Policymakers (9 August 2021). This short summary has four sections: Current State of the Climate, Possible Climate Futures, Climate Information for Risk Assessment and Regional Adaptation, and Limiting Future Climate Change. Below is section one.
A. The Current State of the Climate
A.1 It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land. Widespread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere and biosphere have occurred.
A.2 The scale of recent changes across the climate system as a whole and the present state of many aspects of the climate system are unprecedented over many centuries to many thousands of years.
A.3 Human-induced climate change is already affecting many weather and climate extremes in every region across the globe. Evidence of observed changes in extremes such as heatwaves, heavy precipitation, droughts, and tropical cyclones, and, in particular, their attribution to human influence, has strengthened since the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5).
A.4 Improved knowledge of climate processes, paleoclimate evidence and the response of the climate system to increasing radiative forcing gives a best estimate of equilibrium climate sensitivity of 3°C, with a narrower range compared to AR5.See also:--IPCC Report--Regional Fact Sheets--IPCC Report--Interactive Atlas on Climate (regional, historical, etc.)
Going Further
United Nations Resources
Image courtesy and ©2020 KOD
Sunset over Jordan Cove and the Millstone Nuclear Power Plant, CT USA --UN Environment Programme
--Climate and Environment, UN News
--UN Meetings Coverage and Press Briefings on the Environment
--COP26, UN Climate Conference, Glasgow (31 October-12 November). “Around the world storms, floods and wildfires are intensifying. Air pollution sadly affects the health of tens of millions of people and unpredictable weather causes untold damage to homes and livelihoods too. But while the impacts of climate change are devastating, advances in tackling it are leading to cleaner air, creating good jobs, restoring nature and at the same time unleashing economic growth. Despite the opportunities we are not acting fast enough. Despite the opportunities we are not acting fast enough. To avert this crisis, countries need to join forces urgently.” (COP26 Explained, p. 8)
Final Thoughts
Faith, Hope, and Love as Co-Workers with God
 Image courtesy and ©2020 KOD
Sunset at Pleasure Beach, Waterford, CT USA Our world is reeling. In the midst of our many protracted conflicts such as in Afghanistan; our major ongoing calamities such as the recent earthquake in Haiti; our massive eco-systemic corruption that disproportionately affects the poor; and our macro public health problems such as in the covid pandemic, all of which collectively and ubiquitously plague humanity...we have turned our attention once again, in this Update, to our mega dire climate-environment crises. As people of faith who practice Christian spirituality, we are committed to responsibly engage with others in the challenges facing our world, locally through globally, while holding firmly to our belief that both fundamentally and ultimately we are in God's hands. We pray that God's purposes "will be done on earth as it in heaven;" acknowledge that prayer, repentance, and relationship with God are key to human-planetary wellbeing; and live in hope for the time when God through Jesus Christ will decisively intervene in human history with equity--righteousness and justice--to restore all things. And in the meantime...we seek to embrace lifestyles that prioritize a deep, practical love for truth, peace, and people.
We do not want to further problemitize our world's plight by focusing primarily on the negative. Rather we want to also promote the many examples of the good going forward, as people of good will find common ground for the common good. And we affirm, in the words of Martin Luther King Jr., that human progress comes from "the tireless efforts of [people] willing to be coworkers with God."
See also:
--Being Faith-Based and Evidence-Based, Global Integration Update May 2019
--Faith-Based Partners in Transformation, Global Integration Update August 2015
--Changing the Climate: Applying the Bible in a Climate Emergency (2021). Debbie Hawker, David Hawker, and Jamie Hawker (2021). “Practical Bible-based material to use in families and churches…to show the Bible’s relevance to environmentalism, and how we can all play our part in limiting the negative effects of climate change…Each of the twelve chapters looks at a particular Bible passage, connects it with climate action, poses questions and suggests practical steps that can be taken."
--All the Feelings Under the Sun: How to Deal with Climate Change (2021). Leslie Davenport. Magination Press, American Psychological Association. Available late September 2021--preview here. “[This book] will help young readers work through their feelings of anxiety about climate change. Through informative text and activities, the book gives children age-appropriate information about the climate crisis and gives them the tools they need to manage their anxiety and work toward making change.”
Kelly and Michèle
Member Care Associates
MCAresources@gmail.com
Member Care Associates Inc. (MCA) is a non-profit, Christian organization working internationally from Geneva and the USA. MCA's involvement in Global Integration focuses on the wellbeing and effectiveness of personnel and their organizations across sectors (e.g., mission, humanitarian, peace, health, and development sectors) as well as global mental health and integrity/anti-corruption, all with a view towards collaboratively supporting sustainable development for all people and the planet. Our services include consultation, training, research, resource development, and publications.
Global Integration Global Integration (GI) is a framework for actively and responsibly engaging in our world--locally to globally. It emphasizes connecting relationally and contributing relevantly on behalf of human wellbeing and the issues facing humanity, in light of our integrity, commitments, and core values (e.g., ethical, humanitarian, human rights, faith-based). GI encourages a variety of people to be at the “global tables” and in the "global trenches"--and everything in-between--in order to help research, shape, and monitor agendas, policies, and action for all people and the planet. It intentionally links building the world we need with being the people we need. Our Global Integration Updates are designed to help shape and support the emerging diversity of global integrators who as learners-practitioners are committed to the "common ground for the common good." 2015-current (60+ issues). Some examples of foundational ones:
Doomsday?--June 2017
Living in Global Integrity--April 2017
Peace and Security--December 2016
Global Citizenship--June 2016
Faith-Based Partners in Transformation--August 2015
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Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability;
it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be coworkers with God,
and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation.
Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from a Birmingham Jail (April 1963)a |
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