Preview of an upcoming series unpacking the climate crisis
by Sharde Freitas | Reading time: 2.25 minutes
Our environment needs our collective action now more than ever as we are at a critical juncture in battling the climate crisis. Join us as we take a deeper dive into unpacking the various compounding factors contributing to our climate crisis, and specific actions we can collectively take to protect what we love. This series will be informed by various local experts, community leaders, starting with Dr. Charles “Chip” Fletcher is the Interim Dean of the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. He is a world renowned, Hawaiʻi-based, climate science expert. We invited Dr. Fletcher to share more about the planetary emergency that we are facing, what this looks like more specifically for Hawaiʻi, and some specific actions that we can take. It turns out that actions we can take are grounded in values found right here: aloha. Aloha kekahi i kekahi, our love for one another, and aloha ʻāina, our love for this place.
As a teaser, we share a snippet from our interview with Dr. Fletcher that describes some of the major actions we can take to ensure that we meet the goal to stop global warming at 1.5℃ above the pre-industrial period, and also a teaser as to some of his manaʻo on the role of indigenous knowledge for climate justice:
“These two things, massive reforestation and massive CO² sequestration, CO² withdrawal, are important. Another very powerful, powerful tool could be better soil treatment, soil husbandry, and here is where not only native Hawaiian, but indigenous cultures across the planet know how to treat their soil well. Soil, it turns out, is the largest storehouse of carbon in the natural world. More than all the trees and plants, it’s the fungi system and the root system in soil. Getting away from plowing the soil, using cover crops, husbanding the soil so that there's no erosion, getting away from pesticides and artificial nutrients, of course, and into true organic farming. If we were to engage in regenerative agriculture, around the world, the soil would pull down CO² from the air and it would be as big or bigger than a massive reforestation project. So our food systems are actually, cutting down greenhouse gas emissions, as well as using our food production systems to sequester CO². Those are big steps we can take.”
Stay tuned as we dive into the various compounding factors contributing to the planetary emergency that we are facing. If you are not already, also follow us on our social media platforms on Facebook and Instagram. To join Sierra Club in the latest action to hold fossil fuel companies responsible for causing climate change, learn more, and subscribe for email updates, click here.