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PROLOGUE
In the 1970s, climate change was presented as a threat for future generations. Today, that
is no longer the case.We are those future generations and, like us, climate change is real.
However, the repercussions of climate change often appear distant and unconnected to us just
like the polar bears or the drifting icebergs that are disappearing. Distance, both emotional and
especially geographical, seems to desensitise us, as individuals and a community, from one of
the greatest threats confronting humanity. Slowing down climate change is a challenge that will
determine our destiny and favour either a civilised survival or a return to barbarism.
After three decades of all kinds of promises, today we know that a technological miracle cannot
save us; we must, in unison, greatly reduce the level of greenhouse gas emissions in order to
impede global warming. We therefore need to tackle, without delay, the energy transition of
our societies to an energy model based on conservation, efficiency and renewable energies as
well as binding commitments from all governments. However, with a fierce battle, on one hand,
between countries holding divergent interests and burdens in relation to global warming and,
on the other hand, the incredible inertia imposed by fossil fuel oligopolies, we require science,
awareness and public pressure united as one force to create this transition.
With this publication, we wish to bring climate change closer to the European public and to
contribute in the dissemination of the consequences it has already caused, is causing and will
continue causing in our daily lives, environment and weather. Our goal is simple and, at the
same time, complicated due to the paucity of available data on our immediate surroundings.
Climate change must be brought into our spatial, temporal and emotional proximity in order to
change our evasive and distant view, and to facilitate active public involvement in this fight for
mitigation and adaptation.
It is hoped that, with this text, anyone could easily and intuitively understand how climate