Climate crisis. The crevice of the planet

Esta obra está bajo una Licencia Creative Commons Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivar 4.0 Internacional.

This monograph presents a collection of essays and perspectives on the multiple dimensions of the current climate crisis, characterised by the threat to the global environment and our social fabric posed by anthropogenic (human-induced) climate change.

The environmental impacts of human expansion and industrialization are so profound, diverse, and widespread that the Earth system science community has proposed a new geological epoch to describe it, called the Anthropocene. One of the most evident manifestations of the Anthropocene is precisely anthropogenic climate change, as expounded in this monograph by Alejandro Cearreta. Such impacts, however, are not the same everywhere and for everyone. It turns out that certain environments, economic activities, and social groups are particularly vulnerable to climate change. Nerea Bilbao and S. H. Faria investigate the complex case of high-mountain environments and communities, while the critical impacts of climate-change effects on citrus production are discussed by Damián Balfagón, Vicent Arbona, and Aurelio Gómez-Cadenas. Additionally, Marta Rivera-Ferre presents a fascinating analysis of the relation between climate change and gender inequality.

Social marginalisation is one of the dire symptoms of unfair socio-economic structures and power unbalance, which are amplified during critical situations like the current climate crisis. This amplification phenomenon became even more evident with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, which added fear and uncertainty to a global society already distressed by the climate crisis. In this vein, Carme Melo urges us to democratise the fight against climate-change, while Anil Markandya, Alexander Mueller, Jacob Salcone, Simi Thambi, and Salman Hussain examine the challenges and opportunities for economic recovery in a world plagued by pandemic and climate change.

We hope that these essays may help the readers to understand our options and the tools we need to cross the crevasse of climate change and head towards a more sustainable and egalitarian future.