For many citizens, when they think of climate change they probably relate it
to an international environmental treaty signed by a vast number of presidents
at the Earth Summit in Rio, and many experts within the United Nations system
are working on the problem. Indeed, many presidents did sign the treaty, and
many experts are working toward the solution, but presidents and experts
combined can not solve the problem. Citizens have a crucial role to play to
prevent severe and adverse climate change. So what can citizens do?
First, citizens must be informed. Is the climate change problem exaggerated
and blown out of proportion? Shouldn't we wait until more information is
available before we take actions? Will mitigation actions cost us, and if so,
how much? Will mitigation actions weaken our competitiveness in the
international marketplace? Why should we be concerned about people in other
parts of the world whom we will never meet? Why should we give up our short-term
gains for future generations whom we will never know? Citizens should seek
unbiased information from the government, industry, academic community, and NGOs
to help themselves find answers to these and other relevant questions.
Second, citizens should be engaged. Unlike the ozone layer depletion, the climate issue can not be left to technological and bureaucratic elites. Reducing emissions of CO2, the main culprit of climate change, requires fundamental changes in how we use energy, and therefore will affect every aspect of our life. How do we meet our transportation needs? How do we heat or air-condition our homes? Where do we get our electricity from? Since much of the energy infrastructure has long lifetime (e.g., 40 years for a power plant), not only citizens should be engaged, they should be engaged early in the planning stage. It is needlessly wasteful to demolish a wrong type of power plant after it is built if a right choice could have been made in the first place. Climate change, if unimpeded, will affect all of us, and the success in averting climate change will also require everyone's involvement. Governments and NGOs can help, but only citizens as a whole can determine our long-term climatic fate.