To Till and to Tend

You probably don’t read much about the Maldives- a small island nation in the Pacific with less than 500,000 inhabitants- unless, that is, you follow environmental news outlets like ClimateWire. Pacific island nations like the Maldives, along with (once) ice-covered landmasses like Greenland, have become the ‘canaries in the coal mine’ for global climate change. The Maldives will be one of the first places in the world drastically affected by climate change, as the entire nation lies just above sea level and its economy is driven largely by climate-sensitive activities like fishing and tourism. That’s why the nation’s government is developing a plan to evacuate the entire country to new homes if we don’t change our climate course in the very near future.

For the last decade, the United States has failed to take the lead in tackling climate change, despite the fact that we are the second-largest carbon emitter in the world (after China, though we still are #1 in per capita emissions by a long shot). While vulnerable developing nations have done the least to cause global climate change, they will be the first to suffer its effects, and have the fewest resources to adapt.

Still, the Maldives is ready to be part of the solution, recently announcing plans to become the first carbon neutral nation in the world. Countries from the Maldives to Mexico, and even China, are drafting plans to slash their carbon footprints, leaping ahead of the U.S. on this issue. As Americans of faith who believe in stewardship and sustainability, we have long understood that this is unacceptable.

Since we have failed on the mitigation side, developed nations must now take responsibility by funding adaptation programs to help people around the world change their lifestyles in response to the inevitable effects of climate change. In addition to being the right thing to do, funding adaptation is in our national interest; the UN IPCC predicts that the world may see as many as 150 million ‘climate refugees’ by 2050 if we don’t act now. This sort of mass migration would deeply destabilize the world economy and upset social dynamics in every nation around the globe. 

Unfortunately, the U.S. and other developed nations have as yet failed to live up to our minimal promises on international adaptation. We cannot wait to act, and we cannot hope to enact an international treaty without a strong American commitment to both mitigate our climate change impact and help the world adapt to its effects. And without an international treaty, even the best of U.S. efforts will do little to avoid the worst impacts of climate change- the time has come for us to step up our commitment and once more be the global leader in addressing this global problem. The Maldives, and the rest of the world, are waiting.

Rachel is an Eisendrath Legislative Assistant working on environment and energy issues at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism in Washington, DC. She will be a regular guest blogger on To Till and To Tend this year, posting entries every other Thursday (or in some cases, Wednesday!). This, and all of Rachel’s entries, can also be found on the Religious Action Center blog.