Debate Night: Climate Change

A classic topic comes back to Brussels Debaters.

In the international community, climate change isn't that hot a topic anymore. The attention has shifted towards military and security, towards revitalizing sputtering economies, towards airing out every nativist grievance big or small, and towards technologies such as AI LLMs. Climate conferences had started becoming a big thing in the past decade, even if the results often fell short. The past few climate conferences, however, have been theatrical jokes. Western nations have found other reasons to panic and have turned climate change into an afterthought at best, and just as often have made it an ideological pawn piece to use or cast away depending on what's convenient. Developing nations increasingly believe it is their right to pollute, as Western nations have polluted in the past and still do in the present, and have convinced themselves that two wrongs make a right. Movements of people have developed that consider pollution in line with their personal identity, whether that's their gender, their culture, or something else. Long story short, except for those who already intrinsically cared, not that many folks seem to really care about climate change anymore. Some have even decided it's more opportune to just pretend it isn't real.

The unfortunate thing for humanity is that climate change doesn't care whether you care about it. The effects are already becoming increasingly visible. Heat waves, droughts, wildfires, desertification. Hurricanes, typhoons, floods, rising sea levels. Species extinction acceleration, large drops in biodiversity, increasingly unhealthier natural ecosystems. In 2025, the effects of climate change are clearer than ever. At the same time, we appear to have made baby steps at best to actually resolving the underlying issues. Climate change's effects are only expected to get worse, with apocalyptic scenarios such as island states sinking into the sea, the Ganges River Valley becoming too hot for human habitation, or the destruction of the Gulf Stream that makes Europe's climate livable all becoming plausible scenarios.

So what do we do now? Come join us at Brussels Debaters to discuss a classic topic, but one that certainly hasn't become any less relevant.