7.20.1 Climate change is a serious threat facing the world. Even if we were to stop greenhouse gas emissions now, we still need to adapt to a period of unavoidable climate change over the next few decades due to past emissions. This will increase our risk from flooding and extreme weather events, put more pressure on our species and habitats and have could have a detrimental impact on our health.
7.20.2 We cannot continue to consume our resources in such an unsustainable manner without reducing the quality of our environment, both locally and globally. Economic growth has often been associated with increasing consumption of resources. Our challenge is to make the transition to a low carbon society and to secure economic growth within environmental limits. However, we are starting to see some positive changes in terms of reducing the amount of waste that we produce and our energy consumption.
