Your say / climate action
‘For most of my life I felt powerless living in a country so blessed yet so forgotten’
I come from Colombia.
Colombia is the second most biodiverse country in the world and sadly, one of the countries where it’s most dangerous to be a land and environmental defender, with 52 activists killed just in the first three-first months of this year.
But, why am I telling you this?
is needed now More than ever
Because for most of my life I felt powerless living in a country so blessed yet so forgotten. So rich, yet without the “privilege” of thinking about natural resources, we are all just thinking about how to survive.
Quindio, Colombia. Colombia is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world but it’s wildlife is under threat from climate breakdown – Photo: Valentina Hernandez Gomez
Being the Climate & Sustainability Editor for Bristol 24/7 has transformed this feelings into something that looks more like hope, hope to push and be part of the change.
Bristol, unlike where I come from, has already opened the debate around the future: How are we going to face climate change and how we can adapt to minimise the impacts of global warming?
Because it is, an inevitable reality.
My hope is that we all become aware of the future that awaits humanity if we keep living as we do.
David Wallace, in his book, The Uninhabitable Earth, states that the rise of global temperatures by just two degrees celsius will be a catastrophe, leading to unliveable conditions in many countries accompanied by floods, droughts and so on.
We have to act now, and we are definitely not doing enough.
Journalism’s principles of holding power to account and informing the public must be strengthened in the face of climate change. We need to stop presenting it as some kind of abstract threat, far into the future. Climate change is happening now, as heatwaves become more extreme, and we will see them more often.
Bristol is in a perfect position to act now to stop climate breakdown – Photo: Rob Browne
My hope is that through my job I contribute reliable facts and information to the public debate, but more so, to bring people closer to what sustainability really means and how can we all contribute to building a better present and future.
Just now, we are working into creating a podcast about the “summers of the future”, bringing voices of experts and academics into it. Because, what we are living with now is not a normal summer.
This heat and this climate phenomena we are constantly witnessing is the product of climate change.
I know I’m not going to change the world, but I hope my job at Bristol 24/7 will contribute in that direction, to spark conversations and move every person that comes across our content towards a more sustainable way of living.
Main photo: Valentina Hernandez Gomez
Read more: ‘Heatwaves aren’t ‘just summer” – experts call for action
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