Tackling environmental problems will determine the common future of humanity
Today, natural resources such as forests and agricultural areas continue to be rapidly destroyed and depleted. Emerging as a result of the decrease in the number of living species on earth and the blending of gases, which cause the warming of the earth, to the atmosphere, the “global warming” continue to threaten the future of all humanity.
"Environment and Sustainability Working Group" set out to raise awareness
Aiming to create awareness on climate change, sustainability and environment in various segments of the society, including the business world, and to generate solutions on the relevant issues by transforming this awareness into projects at different scales, GYİAD’s Climate Change, Environment and Sustainability Working Group organized its first online event. . Working Group Co-President Derin Altan was the moderator of the event "Before It Is Too Late: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow of Climate Change".
Important topics related to environmental problems came to the fore in the survey conducted with the participation of Boğaziçi University Center for Climate Change and Policy Studies Manager and GYİAD’s Climate Change Consultant Prof. Dr. Levent Kurnaz. Questions such as “What is our position on a global scale on climate change? Which areas of our lives will the climate change affect? What can we do individually about the climate change?” were asked to the respondents in the survey held with the participation of members.
The responses to the climate and environment survey conducted for the representatives of the young business community revealed the importance of raising awareness on this issue. It is seen that almost half of the respondents know about 97 percent of the scientists agree on global warming and global warming is caused by humans, as well as Turkey ranks as “Critically Insufficient” in the six-category assessment of Climate Action Turkey classifying the countries according to the measures taken to reduce the greenhouse gases.
Our hope for the solution of environmental problems lies in the young people
Pointing out the importance of tackling climate change and environmental problems for our future, Prof. Dr. Levent Kurnaz said, “Humanity knows about the climate change and the results to be caused by this change for at least 100 years. Scientists have confirmed in the latest IPCC report that climate change is human-sourced with a minimum probability of 99%. The average temperature of the world has increased by 1.1 degrees since the end of the 19th century, when we started making regular measurements. Greenhouse gas rates in the atmosphere are also rising steadily despite the international agreements. At this point, our hope now lies in the young people as they do not want to live in a hell in the future. Therefore, we should all listen to young environmental activists a little more. Today, we need to invest 2 trillion dollars (at the prices for 2010) to stop and turn back climate change and the problems it brings. However, if we postpone this, the cost of the problems that will arise in the middle of this century will be around 20 trillion dollars (at the prices for 2010) per year.”
GYİAD will continue working on protecting our common future.
GYİAD Board President Fuat Pamukçu underlined that the working group they set up to raise awareness in various segments of the society as GYİAD has set out to produce different projects and solutions and said, “Today, the natural resources are polluted and depleted quickly. Problems such as rapid decline in biodiversity, depletion of available clean water resources and global warming are among the threats to the future of humanity. Our working group, which we set up to draw attention to environmental problems, was originally established with the aim of carrying out activities that concern the entire society and will protect our common future. GYİAD is ready to do its part about environment and sustainability, which is a global problem, as well as in all matters concerning the society. We will continue working on protecting our common future regarding the environmental issues.”