"This is how the climate is changing in cities!" – happening at Szczepański Square in Krakow

This Saturday Szczepański Square turned into a real climate forum, where everyone had the opportunity to express their opinion on the warming climate and its effects on our planet. Residents of Krakow, city activists and environmentalists discussed what we can do to curb climate change. The slogan of the campaign was: This is how the climate is changing in cities!

“It’s high time that the topic of climate change challenges became visible in our city” – explains Joanna Mieszkowicz, president of the Aeris Futuro Foundation. “Residents of Krakow are most affected by prolonged heat waves, shortages of rain, which are occurring with increasing frequency, and then sudden storms, with which the so-called flash floods are associated, resulting in flooded basements and streets. It is not only the land and greenery that suffers, but especially the residents” – he adds

Saturday’s action titled This is how the climate is changing in cities referred to the effects of climate change, which affect each of us, yet are often unnoticed or, worse, ignored and considered something ordinary. They are slowly becoming the background of our reality, blurring the line between our everyday life and the signs of impending disaster. Our goal was to raise awareness of the effects of climate change on the residents of Krakow and to emphasize that this issue cannot be ignored either by us or by lawmakers.

“Hence the letter to Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, which every participant could sign and thus show that climate protection issues in Poland are not indifferent to him. We want to ensure that climate issues are no longer left out of the decision-making process of those who govern our country” – explains Wojciech Przywała, co-organizer of the campaign. “We believe that the only way we can succeed is through close cooperation between society, government and the third sector” – he adds.

SIGN A LETTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER OF THE RP:

https://naszademokracja.pl/petitions/nie-dla-klimatycznej-katastrofy

“I don’t know about you, but I believe that everyone on Earth has the same right to live in a clean environment, whether they live in Poland, Norway, Kenya, Venezuela or China. As they say ‘think global, act local,’ that’s why we are starting from our own backyard to spread our point of view and instill in people the element of mobilization for action”, says Bartłomiej Węglarz, a volunteer with the Aeris Futuro Foundation.

“We should develop such a program to move away from coal that is socially just and economically beneficial. We can create conditions conducive to the development of renewable energy and zero-emission transportation. In this way we will improve air quality and reduce CO2 emissions. For the sake of citizens and as a responsible host of this year’s climate summit (COP24), the government has a duty to strengthen our climate policy” – concluded Urszula Stefanowicz of the Climate Coalition.

The Szczepański Square happening was also a response to the latest IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report, published last Monday, which makes it clear that a 2°C warming of the climate will be far more detrimental than a 1.5°C warming, and that’s true for both humans and nature. To avoid the worst, it is necessary to take all possible measures now that will result in a significant reduction in the total amount of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere.