While composting and taking the bus are helpful, we need to change the very systems we live and work in to truly address climate change.
While composting and taking the bus are helpful, we need to change the very systems we live and work in to truly address climate change.
March 13th is Overshoot Day in the U.S. and Canada, marking the date each year when North Americans have already consumed our share of Earth’s renewable resources for the year. It’s also one of the many reasons behind the launch of CoSphere, an online platform working towards collaborative system change. Founder Dr. Kai Chan (he/him), a professor in the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, discusses exactly what system change is, and why it’s critical we act now.
While measures like carbon prices or buying an electric car are important, they’re just not enough to meet the complex challenges of climate change. After all, it’s not enough just to produce energy and maintain a livable climate; we also need to distribute food, clean water, and other resources to all, and preserve the natural environment that supports us.
Recent international science assessments have been clear: to succeed, we need change that includes and goes beyond policies and private actions. This means new laws, changing how governments and businesses make decisions, as well as social change in how we all understand and measure success. This is what we call systemic, or ‘transformative’, change.
The fact that we have reached ‘overshoot’ just 10 weeks into the year is a clear indication that huge change is needed. CoSphere, with our partners including the David Suzuki Foundation, Plastic Oceans, and the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, aims to bring interested people together to identify what changes are needed. We identify six systems including economy and finance, the levers to change them, including incentives and laws, and the leverage points at which to apply them, including consumption. We then provide a platform and a community to enable these changes.
Read more at: University of British Columbia
