Getting Ready: York’s role in a global fight against climate chaos

On September 25, 2015, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be met by 2030. Sustainable development is “an approach to growth and human development that aims to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. 

The aim is to have a society where living conditions and resources meet human needs without undermining planetary integrity. Sustainable development aims to balance the needs of the economy, environment, and society.” (from Wikipedia) The UN’s program was designed to be a global effort, and it has been. However, country participation is uneven, and the wealthiest countries are not keeping their commitments to invest in developing nations. Five years remain, and the world is on track to meet just 15% of the SDGs. There is talk of extending the deadline.

The UN releases annual SDG reports that cover significant factors influencing the human condition, such as wealth and poverty, healthcare, hunger, education, water, and infrastructure. The only SDG that appears certain to be met by 2030 is global access to cell service (including York Beach).

SDG 13 is Climate Action. Following are a few climate observations from the 2023 SDG report, which reflects the findings of 2022:

The climate crisis continues worldwide, bringing with it massive wildfires, hurricanes, droughts, floods, and other disasters.

Climate change disrupts national economies and affects the lives and livelihoods of billions of the world’s most vulnerable people.

Climate change, caused by human activities, threatens life on Earth as we know it. If left unchecked, it will provoke mass migrations, leading to instability and wars.

The world must limit global warming to 1.5 degrees C above pre-industrial levels — a target from which we are drastically off track.

Getting Ready: How we can all live lightly and help heal the planet

The 2024 SDG report shows no improvement through 2023 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, escalating regional conflicts, geopolitical tensions, and other factors. The United Nations reports the world has moved from climate crises to climate chaos. As of early 2025, annual global greenhouse gas emissions increase as biodiversity shrinks.

Other voices are sounding the alarm, as well. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), established in 1988 by the United Nations Environment Programme, is a scientific panel whose mission is to synthesize the scientific literature on climate change and assess the future under various warming scenarios. In March 2023, the IPCC released its sixth climate assessment report. The report is informative about the actions we, as countries, states, towns, and individuals, must take to slow and reverse climate change. The challenge is we must do more.  According to the latest IPCC report, “All global pathways that limit warming to 1.5 degrees C (the Paris Agreement target) with no or limited overshoot (over 50% of the models), and those that limit warming to 2 degrees C (over 67% of the models), involve rapid and deep and, in most cases, immediate greenhouse gas emissions reductions in all sectors this decade.”

Five years are left in this decade, and not one sector of human activity can report immediate, rapid, and deep emission reductions. According to the Copernicus Climate Change Service, 2024 was the first year in recorded history that the global average temperature exceeded 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. We have reached the Paris Agreement limit, with rising emissions and temperatures. If today’s global weather predictions become the future, humans are in for a future never seen before.

The IPCC report continues: “Human activities, principally through emissions of greenhouse gases, have unequivocally caused global warming, with global surface temperature reaching 1.1 degrees C above 1850-1900 in 2011-2020.” Worse yet, we have added .4 of a degree to today’s global average temperature in just the last five years.             

Changing lifestyles and consumption patterns are the most complicated changes for us to make, but we must make them. If we change our consumption patterns, production improvements will follow. “Climate change is an existential threat to human well-being and the planet’s health. The window of opportunity to secure a livable and sustainable future for the world is rapidly closing,” the report concludes.

If you accept the science of climate change, believe the IPCC’s most recent report, which was written by 270 subject matter experts from 67 countries, and trust what you see with your own eyes, then you need to act.

With the U.S. federal government suspending its climate work for at least two years, local mobilization to reduce York’s carbon footprint is even more urgent. York Ready for Climate Action (YRCA) is a local organization focused on climate change mitigation and adaptation in York. We want to expand our programs to engage more members of our York community in climate action. To do that, we need volunteers and money. Please donate or volunteer what you can. We are a 501-c nonprofit; all donations are tax-deductible and accounted for. Thank you.

Skip Schnable is a volunteer for York Ready for Climate Action.