Leonardo DiCaprio could’ve said damn near anything during his 2016 Oscar’s acceptance speech and we would’ve listened. With the countless snubs he’s had to face over the years, he deserved his minute upon that stage. But after a brief moment of thanks to those who supported him, DiCaprio used his long-awaited speech, statuette in hand, for a greater purpose: “Climate change is real,” he said. “It is happening now.”
Of course, the first sentence is now common knowledge, or at least it should be (we’re looking at you, Trump). But our understanding of the latter statement, the notion that the effects of global warming have become a ‘now’ problem as opposed to a ‘later’ one, remains to be seen. Perhaps we give lip service to this sense of urgency, but do we always believe it, let alone address it?
The ‘now’ is here, and the current drought in Ethiopia is just one case in point. According to The Economist, the drought in Ethiopia has reduced crop yields by more than 50 percent. This is, at least in part, the result of a particularly strong El Niño, a phenomenon made more severe due to climate change. The reduced yields and dying livestock induced by the drought are particularly troubling in Ethiopia, as over 80 percent of the population are subsistence farmers, meaning over 80 percent of the population depends entirely on strong crop yields to survive.
While the international community has been praised for its assistance, less than half of the estimated $1.4 billion needed to combat the drought’s impact has been funded. According to Paul Schemm of the Washington Post, unless more aid is secured, Ethiopia’s food supply could run out as soon as May.
Yet not even $1.4 billion is enough. Not only has the world failed to provide adequate assistance to Ethiopia--let alone the many other countries that need it--but the aid being provided carries with it potential harms. By bringing emergency food aid to Ethiopia from foreign rather than local sources, aid agencies are undermining local efforts to produce and distribute food. This could have long term effects on Ethiopian agricultural markets, making it harder to recover from this drought and more difficult to survive the inevitable ‘next one.’
As the world continues to warm, the potential for drought and famine will only increase, especially in low-income countries. Climatologists widely agree that the increasing temperature of our global climate has already resulted in more extreme and more frequent disasters of this nature. Yet, the response mechanisms in place to address these calamities are not always effective or properly funded. In order to adapt effectively to our new climate reality, the World Food Programme and other food aid organizations need to seek new, more effective strategies for feeding those affected by climate disaster and the international community needs to be willing to pay for it.
In his speech, DiCaprio made clear what we all must recognize: climate change is no longer a problem of the future. Across the world, people of all stripes are having to adapt to new climates. While for us in the Midwest that means getting used to warm days in February and March, for those in other parts of the world the effects of climate change are much more disastrous. This Ethiopian case is just one row in a growing dataset of environmental disasters triggered by climate change. The need for effective response mechanisms to these global problems has thus never been more urgent.
Terlep is a senior political science major from Naperville, Illinois; Piggins is a senior economics major from Saugatuck, Michigan.