So far, so near

We live in a world of contradictions where we can imagine ‘global markets’ better than ‘global warming’. This worldview grew from the 19th century as the Industrial Revolution flooded Earth with commodities, making the world seem a small space. Paradoxically though, distant places faded in our minds, imagined as faraway locales unconnected to our lives.



Today, climate change poses an enormous challenge to that view. Consider the Arctic, often envisioned as a remote corner on Earth’s edge — global warming now highlights how central the Arctic actually is. This region of prehistoric ice faces the most intense warming, CNN finding the Arctic heating four times more rapidly, with the Barents Sea experiencing an annual temperature rise of 2.7 degrees, making it the world’s fastest-warming location. Heat melts ice and NASA thus finds Arctic summer sea ice has shrunk to its lowest level now.



This affects us all. Ice reflects 84% of incoming solar radiation while open seas reflect just five percent, absorbing more heat and raising temperatures. As warming rises, Arctic permafrost — ancient frozen ground — thaws, releasing CO2 (50% of the world’s below-ground carbon stocks are locked in permafrost) and methane. What happens in the Arctic doesn’t stay there — scientists find ‘Arctic amplification’ causing impacts worldwide, from rising seas to fires which have turned, as WWF finds, the Amazon rainforest into a net emitter of greenhouse gases. As the Amazon’s flames release more pollutants, these intensify droughts in sub-Saharan Africa, heatwaves in India and storms in the Philippines. A faraway place has the power to impact our lives. We knew this once — in the 15th century, William Shakespeare wrote, ‘One touch of nature makes the whole world kin’.

As Times Evoke’s global experts emphasise, to navigate climate change, we must view the remote with care. Earth is interlinked — warming currents in the Pacific Ocean, for instance, are hastening Arctic melt. The remote isn’t far and this realisation must be the cornerstone of climate adaptations. Alongside, philosophies pushed to the edges of modern life can help — indigenous worldviews, for instance, hold rich teachings about living sustainably with ecology. Join Times Evoke in journeying to faraway places thus — these could reshape your life.

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