Women in Climate (WiC) network
Women in Climate (WiC) network
Posted by Bryony Hobden
17 June 2024It was great to have Gaia Vince join the WiC network and Global Systems Institute (GSI) for a joint climate seminar hosted at the University of Exeter.
Gaia Vince is a science writer and broadcaster, exploring the interplay between human systems and the planetary environment. She is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Anthropocene Institute at UCL and a host of BBC Inside Science. Her first book, Adventures In The Anthropocene won the Royal Society Science Book of the Year Prize, and her latest book, Nomad Century: How To Survive The Climate Upheaval, explores global migration and planetary restoration in a radical call to arms.
The seminar began by giving an overview of global warming and what can already be seen in our global temperature records and the impacts this leads to on Earth: extreme heat, flash floods, wildfires, as well as negative impacts on marine life and fisheries etc. Throughout, the importance of adaptation was highlighted. Not only to live with future climate change, but to learn to live with the impacts already seen from existing levels of global warming. In 2023, there were 60,000 excess deaths in Europe from heat alone.
It was discussed how future levels of global warming will result in severe impacts for certain areas, with regions likely to become āunliveableā. Gaia described her new book as āa book of solutionsā, and believes it is possible to deal with these global issues. Over recent decades, climate changes have caused the migration of animals and birds, as well as the movement of plants and trees, and Gaia believes that with financial and social investment, we can have successful immigration of people. Using evidence of changes from the last 100 years, we have seen that countries can come together to create a better world and that positive forward movements are possible.
The seminar ended with questions and an engaged discussion. This included considering how the northern hemisphere will likely have to adapt to accommodate greater populations from the rest of the world and adapting to their own climate impactsāfor example, the concept of expanding existing cities in āsafeā places. How immigration is often perceived was also discussed, and how there is evidence in the history of desirable immigration which benefits countries. For example, when well managed immigration has been shown to have many economic benefits, which is important in providing hope for young generations.