Target: Senate Majority Leader, Chuck Schumer
Goal: Take urgent action to stop climate change
By June 2022 approximately 750,000 people worldwide were at a “catastrophic” level of food insecurity. This means “starvation, death, destitution and extremely critical acute malnutrition levels are evident,” as reported in the Washington Post. Worse still, as many as 49 million people are at risk of famine in the coming months. Climate change is a persistent culprit behind food shortages. The Senate Majority Leader must take urgent action to stop U.S. contributions to the climate crisis.
Though climate change is not the only component of current global food shortages – Russia’s war in Ukraine and the Covid-19 pandemic have also contributed – climate change is a persistent force contributing to global starvation. Even worse, climate change makes it increasingly difficult to address unrelated impacts on global food supplies, like those seen with the war in Ukraine.
The same Washington Post article shows this year alone, erratic rains and extremely high temperatures in India devastated crops; historic droughts in the Horn of Africa have severely limited food production; declining snowpack in Afghanistan threatens the country’s ability to irrigate its crops; and the potential for intense flooding in Sudan could destroy the country’s farmland. These climate change driven impacts create additional food insecurity all while stunting a global response to other impacts on food supplies.
A February 2022 UN report has shown that at our current levels of warming (1 degrees Celsius) have contributed to devastating impacts on food production listed above. If warming continues to 2 degrees Celsius up to 30% of global farmland could no longer be useable to grow crops.
CarbonBrief, a data-driven reporter of climate science, reports the U.S. is “responsible for the largest share of historical emissions … 20% of the global total.” The United States also remains a top emitter of carbon globally and continues to skirt its duty to address climate change. Sign this petition to demand the U.S. government takes urgent action to stop the devastating impacts of climate change on global food supplies.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Senate Majority Leader Schumer,
The world is currently facing a hunger crisis brought on and exacerbated by climate change. The Washington Post reports that as of June 2022, 750,000 people globally were at a “catastrophic” level of food insecurity. In the coming months, the number of people worldwide facing famine could grow to as many as 49 million. This is a crisis the U.S. must work to solve.
This year alone has shown that droughts, extreme temperatures, and the potential for catastrophic flooding already has, and will continue to, devastate global food crops. If global temperatures keep rising to 2 degrees Celsius, up to 30% of farmland worldwide could become unusable.
To date, the U.S. has contributed 20% of total historical carbon emissions and continues to be a top emitter of carbon globally. You must take urgent action to stop climate change and the U.S.’s role in increasing starvation globally.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: CIFOR
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