The effects of climate change are becoming unavoidable and potentially “catastrophic,” according to a report produced by the National Security, Military and Intelligence Panel on Climate Change. It’s time to stop denying the dangers of climate change. It’s time to start lobbying for laws that will help solve the issue of climate change.   

A February 2020 report from the NSMIP states there are five key findings from the organization’s study: 

• If global emissions aren’t controlled, the world will experience destabilization in just about every area imaginable that will affect the Earth in the long run, which will threaten the well-beings of everyone and everything on the planet

• Low warming levels hit the vulnerable areas the hardest — dry, arid regions, less-developed countries, small island states and the Arctic polar region. Additionally, these are areas with “significant military engagement,” and the rapid climate change would destabilize these incredibly important areas

• The industrialized areas in the North will also face threats at all levels of warming. If these areas see “high emissions warming scenarios,” countries in these regions “could experience catastrophic security risks, including high levels of migration and a breakdown of key infrastructure and security institutions”

• Currently, planet Earth is at a high level of average global warming, and global emissions are increasing. Proposed international commitments aimed at addressing these issues, such as the Paris Climate Agreement, “are not nearly commensurate to contain the threat”

• “Without concerted efforts at both climate change mitigation and adaptation, we risk high- impact and catastrophic threats to our collective and national security”

Concerning North America specifically, the report states: “For the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, climate change is contributing to risks of rising extremes across the continent, in heat, precipitation, drought, sea levels, wildfires, and storms. Few areas of the region are unaffected, even at low levels of warming, and all experience rising economic and social costs from intensified disasters. Melting Arctic conditions also newly define the region, as summers become ice free and tensions brew in the region over competing commercial interests.”

The report also projects the warming in North America to be hasty, especially for Northern latitudes. “On high end trajectories, temperature rise could exceed a regional average of 2 Degrees Celsius by the middle of the century,” the report says. This is problematic because this warming will bring about extreme heat and precipitation events, droughts and earlier winter melting, according to the report. This region is also particularly at risk of having wildfires, extreme heat and storms.

What the report is saying is crystal clear: This isn’t just any issue, it’s a threat to national security. If nothing is done collectively to reign in global emissions and reduce climate change, there could literally be “catastrophic” consequences.

So what are college students to do?

For one, share the information in this report to people you know. Share it with anyone and everyone.

Get the conversation on climate change awareness started. It can’t start unless people start talking with one another and, if need be, educating others on the dangers of climate change.

The most important thing to do during this time is to lobby for climate change solutions. 

During this upcoming presidential election, think carefully about the candidates that put environmental preservation and safety and climate change highest up on their list of salient issues. Vote for them. Don’t even think twice about it. Vote for the person you believe will do the most to help the climate change crisis.