“So the climate is changing faster than our efforts to address it. The alarm bells keep ringing. Our citizens keep marching. We cannot pretend we do not hear them. We have to answer the call. We know what we have to do to avoid irreparable harm. We have to cut carbon pollution in our own countries to prevent the worst effects of climate change. We have to adapt to the impacts that, unfortunately, we can no longer avoid. And we have to work together as a global community to tackle this global threat before it is too late.

We cannot condemn our children, and their children, to a future that is beyond their capacity to repair. Not when we have the means — the technological innovation and the scientific imagination — to begin the work of repairing it right now. ”

— Pres. Barack Obama, UN Climate Change Summit, 2014

WHAT WILL IT TAKE?

Education for the public about climate change and its effects (Barrett, 2015)
Policy making (international scale): countries and their governments know about climate change but there is a disconnect between perception and action (Wei, 2014)
Research on why specific diseases are more prone to effects of specific climate variables (Wang, 2015)
Research that include diverse groups and a wide range of areas; not assuming that there is the same outcome and solution for everyone (Thomas, 2014)
Support of local communities to prepare for change; involving local officials in decision-making processes (Kettle, 2014)
Efforts to identify communities and groups that are vulnerable and becoming increasingly at risk and those who are already experiencing adverse effects of climate change (Thomas, 2014)
A change in perspective