UN CLIMATE TEACHER BOJANA BOGOJEVIC

If I start this article according to the present situation in Climate Change, it would be written in red and you would probably hear an emergency alarm. I don’t want to frighten you, but the situation isn’t naive. Believe me it is far from naive, far from the global trick of politicians, or another fashion trendy movement called Climate change.

Why it is like that ?

Because more than a half of population thinks Climate Change is connected just with global warming or weather conditions. Yes, they are right but those are just the most visible consequences which you can’t see - only if you are blind or you turn a blind eye, but even so you have sense of hearing and are capable to feel the heat, smell the smoke in the air, polution etc....

Population isn’t guilty . Nobody educated us about this . I remembered I had Ecology Law in my last year at Belgrade Faculty of Law. But, unfortunately, I see we are still dealing with the same problem. I had hoped 10 years later we wouldn’t be fighting over emissions.

others. I won’t frighten you, but Climate Change is a long term battlefield - a championship we must win together. Single acts aren’t enough, we all have to take a serious part, or we will loose our home and we only have one Earth .

through the earliest stage approach we will be able to focus more on prevention.

Yes it is a Global battlefield! Yes it must be coordinated! Yes we must act immediately!

The best leaders lead by example, the best Professors teach by example, and our leaders and professors are our parents, after that the society we live in. We are already shaped as people and can further continue to educate what we have learned and achieved through our knowledge and behaviour.

So if we want to act globally, because this must be a globally coordinated action, we must start to educate at all levels;, schools, companies, societies how can avoid the consequences in the future

But to avoid answers like :”I can’t do anything you forbid no single act .” The battle can’t be won by a single heroic act, but we all can be a Joan of’Arc in society, in our homes, on networks and more. Every single acts counts. Yes, it will be hard. You will hear a lot of “ can’t “, “ don’t know”, “stop”, etc. Any excuse, avoiding actions and not accept responsibility.

But remember, we all cleaning our homes. And, now Earth needs a big cleaning.

Why is this a major concern?

Because someone needs to activate the alarm button . Earth Overshoot Day was on 31st August 2019 and this year’s date was the earliest since monitoring began in 1986.

What is Earth Overshoot Day ?

Earth Overshoot Day is a day when humanity have used more from nature than our planet can renew in the entire year.

Are you afraid? If not, what about the fact this year’s, June and July were the hottest months ever to be recorded on Earth.

Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change said that global warming of 1.5 degrees

celsius could pose climate-related risks to health, livelihoods, food security, water supply, human security, and economic growth. According to this we are seeing how important Climate Change is. A big complex theme and how all creatures on Earth can suffer and be affected with it’s consequences. If we don’t do something about it soon such as Climate Change Education the consequences will be even more deadlier then those we are witnessing now. Are you ready to see life disappearing in front your eyes because you weren’t ready to take responsibility and act?

What is Climate Change ?

It is for sure one of the biggest crisis facing humanity .

NASA ( Global Climate Change Home ) defines climate change as: “a broad range of global phenomena created predominantly by burning fossil fuels, which add heat-trapping gases to Earth’s atmosphere. These phenomena include the increased temperature trends described by global warming, but also encompass changes such as sea level rise; ice mass loss in Greenland, Antarctica, the Arctic and mountain glaciers worldwide; shifts in flower/plant blooming; and extreme weather events.”

Who is or what is the biggest cause of climate change ?

You are! Well let’s be more precise, humanity with human activities. Some of the activities are: burning fossil fuels like; gas, oil, and coal which release CO2 in the Earth’s atmosphere; deforestation which also release CO2 in the atmosphere and reduces number of forests and trees capable to absorb excess CO2. This brings us to increasing

CO2 and other greenhouse gases , too much of greenhouse gases due to human activities cause Earth’s overheating . And, we have all heard the term - enhanced greenhouse effect. Imagine - Global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) have increased by almost 50% since 1990.

What are the impacts of Climate Change?

the Paris Agreement and 10 developing countries had submitted their first iteration of their national adaptation plans for responding to climate change.

All of us must be involved; societies, corporate sector, government, NGOs ...

1) Melting ice and rising sea levels;

2) Extreme weather ;

3) Extreme consequences in developing countries;

4) Risks for human health;

5) Society and Economic costs;

6) Wildlife risks .

What humanity can do?

According to Sustainable Development Goals ( SDGs) also known as Global Goals , global call to Climate Action is Sustainable development goal No.13.

To strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change, countries adopted the Paris Agreement at the Paris Climate Change Conference known as COP21 in Paris, which went into force in November of 2016. In the Paris Agreement, all countries agreed to work to limit global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees celsius. As of April 2018, 175 parties had ratified

United Nation’s Secretary-General António Guterres called all leaders to come to New York on 23.09.2019 with their concrete and realistic plans to enhance their nationally determined contributions by 2020. In line with reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 45% over the next decade, and to net zero emissions by 2050.

Before you claim to learn about Climate Change like school class or important life’s education courses, United Nation’s has identified and propose 10 individual actions that we can take in our daily life. Yes, we all can contribute, by changing our existing harmful habits and actions and choose less harmful ones.

Those actions are :

1) 5 - Minute Showers;

2) Drive Less;

3) Meat - free Meals;

4) Local Produce;

5) Recycle;

8) Refill and Reuse;

9) Zero - Waste Fashion;

10) Bring your Own Bag.

As I mentiones earler, education about Climate Change and Climate Action is among the most important thing we should adopt and tackle the alarm bells in the future. If we don’t take co-ordinated action, our average global temperatures will increase beyond 3 degrees celsius, if you were reading carefully - is a road to disaster.

It is important to teach others to care about nature, and understand the cost of Climate Change. Knowledge is our most powerful weapon in the battle for humanity, and the reason I decided to become a UN Accredited Climate Change Teacher – the first and only one in Serbia . I achieved my mission to become a Teacher in Climate Change and now I have a new one - to educate others and spread knowledge about the complex topic on the difference between innovation and intervention, exploration and extermination.

Please remember, history of humanity was always re-written by natural disasters. Facing the biggest Climate Change ever question is: are we capable to survive the next one?

WHAT YOU WERE NEVER TAUGHT AT SCHOOL BY

BOJANA BOGOJEVIC

LAW AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE LAWYER, POST-GRAD SPE- CIALIST FOR CORPORATE GOVERNANCE, AND UN CLIMATE TEACHER AUTHOR