About 4,200 miles away at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Paris, 150 world leaders are discussing what they can do to reduce carbon emissions and stop climate change.
The conference’s goal is to limit still-rising temperatures to an increase of 2 degrees Celsius by 2020. Each country involved has come with a pledge stating what it will do.
It may be years before Indiana feels the effects of the decision at the conference. With Congress’ containing members still denying climate change and making moves to block potential alterations to climate change policy, it’s unlikely any sweeping legislation will pass soon, said Stephen Macekura, an international studies professor at IU.
“(President Obama) knows the Republican Party will just reject things out of hand,” Macekura said. So for now, the president must depend on actions that don’t need to go through Congress.
For Indiana, adverse changes may not be right around the corner, Macekura said. The state, as well as the rest of the country, will most likely first have to deal with what Macekura called “climate refugees,” or people displaced by climate change.
People from small island nations are already seeing their land masses disappearing underwater, and Macekura said people in other parts of the world are dealing with water scarcity and more intense storms. It is likely people from places like the United States Marshall Islands, which is dangerously close to sea level, will need new homes soon, he said.
“In Indiana, we aren’t as susceptible to climate change as places like ... Bangladesh,” he said. But, he said, “climate change knows no political boundaries.”
That doesn’t mean Hoosiers are safe. Indiana residents could face summers with severe heat, smog, decreased air quality, dangerous storms, increased flooding, and decreased livestock and agricultural productivity, according to a 2009 report by the Union of Concerned Scientists.
More people could die from heat strokes and flooding, respiratory health could plummet and food scarcity could incite violence.
“We are too reliant on coal,” said Stephanie Kane, another international studies professor at IU. She said Indiana’s interests in the coal industry are too powerful, which leads to poor air quality here.
These UN-sponsored talks have been happening since 1995. Macekura said this year’s conference is different from past negotiations because the focus is shifting to the actions individual countries are willing to take.
In the past, the main mission of the conference was to create an international treaty that would bind all countries together and keep them accountable for making the same changes at the same time. Macekura said now the countries involved in the conference are scrapping the old model and trying to establish a plan in which each country will determine its own goals for reducing carbon emissions and the timeline for the changes.
“It’s more of a choose-your-own-adventure climate policy,” Macekura said.
Kane said overall the conference in Paris is opening eyes to the reality of global warming.
“It’s an opportunity for a lot of different people ... to come together and talk and network ... In that sense, I think it’s organizing consciousness around the world,” she said. Kane said whether the pledges are implemented and enforced is another issue.
A week remains for the conference, which ends Dec. 11.
