This guide will continue to develop. To suggest the addition of relevant resources, please contact Liaison Librarian Ileana Thomson.
Climate change is an existential threat because it has a number of consequences that threaten humanity's existence, ways of life and its place in the natural world. Some of these consequences include:
Natural disasters as a consequence of weather extremes: climate change leads to more natural disasters such as droughts, floods, hurricanes, season pattern disruption, sea level rise which cause scarcities, displacement, injuries and death, disrupt progress and burden future generations.
Forced migration: climate change can force people to migrate, which could lead to other problems.
Pandemics: climate change can increase the spread of vector-borne diseases, which could lead to more deaths from these diseases.
Health problems: extreme temperatures cause heat related conditions e.g. dehydration and heatstroke, and increase the risk of heart attacks, strokes, and lung disease, while air quality can lead to respiratory illnesses, allergies, and long-term exposure that reduces life expectancy.
Mental health and emotional distress: climate change can have significant mental health impacts, especially for people on the autism spectrum who may be more sensitive to changes in temperature, humidity, and pressure and cause people to experience emotional distress, such as anxiety, worrying, trouble sleeping, and depression-like symptoms
Food crises: climate change could affect food availability, quality, and diversity, which could lead to food and nutrition crises.
Access to water: more flooding and drought can reduce access to safe food and water supplies and increase the risk of malnutrition and diarrheal diseases.
Conflict and war: water and food insecurity can
Loss of cultures, traditions, and languages: climate change could threaten human cultures, traditions, and languages that may not survive in a warming world because of displacement.
Sustainability is the ability of society to live and develop without depleting the natural resources necessary to maintain an ecological balance and in order for future generations to be able to live. Sustainability thinking and action has a huge role in tackling and slowing climate change.
What can you do to help tackle this crisis and live sustainably?
This guide is here to point you to some useful resources that can help you find out more about climate change and sustainability, make you think about how you live, measure your impact on the environment through carbon footprint calculators and find new ways of thinking and living sustainably and considerately, how you can get involved so that we can ensure we do not destroy our environment which sustains us and all life on earth.