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Preface

In the past few years, irrevocable losses have been experienced in the personal circles that each of us identifies as family/friends and in the intersecting circles that expand. This book has been written in the margins of grief, and in the midst of the real‐time widow work of making sure my sons who tragically lost their beloved father somehow didn’t shatter under the weight of sadness. But, writing a preface for a book that is inextricably interwoven with loss also comes with a sense of gratitude for the courage and loyalty of true friends, and for the tireless advocates who have spoken out for climate justice, especially those whose voices are no longer with us.

The unprecedented scope and scale of climatic impacts present a clear and present danger to our shared planet. Sadly, there is ample evidence that the immediate costs of climatic adversities will be felt more deeply by those most marginalized who lack safety nets and resilience measures to adapt to extreme climatic change. We now need to unequivocally acknowledge that the collective global failure to address climate change represents the largest inter‐generational human rights violation of our time. Our collective failure to act conclusively to curb climate change condemns the poorest and most vulnerable among us who have contributed the least to the problem of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to suffer the most. It is also undeniably clear that poor and vulnerable lives will continue to be devastated if we ignore the costs of the largest environmental health risk – air pollution – facing some of the most populous cities in the world.

The sixth and most recent in the series of global scientific assessments issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) entitled ‘Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability’ leaves little room for equivocation that the ‘extent and magnitude of climate change impacts are larger than estimated in previous assessments’ (2022, p.8). Some of the report’s findings regarding the inequitable impacts of climate change, air pollution and vulnerability are sobering: ‘Hot extremes including heatwaves have intensified in cities, where they have also aggravated air pollution events, and limited functioning of key infrastructure’. The ‘observed impacts’ were found ‘to be concentrated amongst the economically and socially marginalized urban residents’. The report goes on to point out that: ‘Global hotspots of high human vulnerability are found particularly in West‐, Central‐ and East Africa, South Asia, Central and South America, Small Island Developing States and the Arctic. Vulnerability is higher in locations with poverty, governance challenges and limited access to basic services and resources, violent conflict and high levels of climate‐sensitive livelihoods’ (2022, p 11‐12)^*.

Now more than ever before, there is a global urgency in responding to the needs of those who are doubly threatened by exposure to toxic levels of fossil fuel pollution and vulnerabilities to climatic adversities such extreme heat waves, droughts, flash floods and coastal zone inundation The toll of disease and morbidity burdens accruing at the toxic intersection of air pollution and climatic adversity presents a global imperative that requires looking beyond the textual parsing of three decades of intergovernmental negotiations. The global trend towards urbanization requires ensuring inclusive, community and city‐based actions to reduce fossil fuel air pollution and curb short lived climate pollutants (SLCPs). From the perspective of decades of scientific consensus generated by numerous globally relevant institutions including the IPCC, it is important to be absolutely clear that emissions reductions of SLCPs cannot substitute for energy sector related GHG emissions mitigation. But, ignoring the grave impacts of SLCPs, and discounting the regional and national benefits for health, agriculture and food security that result from SLCPs emissions reductions is both ineffective and inequitable.

Reducing particulate matter (PM) pollution) including PM_2.5 emissions that emanate from the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, wood and other biomass is critically important from a human health perspective. What has not yet been adequately addressed within the context of global climate change negotiations is that one of the principal components of PM_2.5 – black carbon (BC) –is known to be a SLCP. BC emissions have also been found to be directly linked to serious, adverse regional and in some case more localized climate change impacts including regional rainfall and weather patterns, and also most importantly in the loss of annual production levels of rice, wheat and maize. What this book argues is that increasing access to clean air and sustainable energy for all is integral to climate responsive action and to reducing the grave human health impacts of energy related air pollution. Curbing PM_2.5 emissions offers a demonstrable win‐win on multiple fronts‐ climate change, clean air and clean energy. The book builds upon the argument that the interwoven crises of fossil fuel air pollution and climate change are well documented and extract the harshest tolls in the poorest households and communities. It discusses how responses to these interlinked crises cannot be relegated to being addressed via segregated UN global goals and policy silos. It finds that scaled up global partnerships that can jointly address energy‐related pollution, mitigate climate change and address the needs of the poorest communities across the world are long over‐due. The public health risks and costs that loom for some of the most populous cities in the world as a result of PM pollution should not be ignored any longer. It is now or never for broadening and deepening responses on clean air and clean energy for all.

In writing this book, it is also necessary to recognize that the ties of community and friendships are what sustain in the face of grief and loss. This book could not have been written without those who showed our small family countless acts of kindness. To the five families‐ the Baron, the DiRusso, the Argyros, the Hinksmon and the Steinscheinder families‐who stood up to support our family in the most spontaneous and heartfelt manner, please know we are so grateful. I owe a debt of gratitude for the wisdom and generous counsel provided by Jeremy Temkin and Priya Raghavan whose assistance meant the world. To my friends, some of whom are the god parents of my boys who encouraged me when I was at my saddest, there are simply no words that can convey what your friendship meant so I will list your names in the hope you can understand how much I value you: Sumant Shrivastava, Veronique Lambert, Ambassador Elizabeth Thompson Ambassador Kwabena Osei Danquah, Mahenau Agha, Dr J. John and Laurie John, Nina Aebi, Ram Manikkalingam and Elaine Ashworth. To my dear circle of ‘mom’ friends, too many to list and the best kind of friends for a widowed mother to have, I want to say that I feel blessed to have you all in my corner. Deepest thanks are owed to Prof. Peter Haas who has played a crucial role in guiding my work on climate change. I am also grateful for friends and colleagues – Dr. Leena Srivastava, Judith Enck, Nina Orville, Dave Klassen and Dr Karl Hausker – whose ideas and insights have enlivened my work. Special thanks are owed to my editors at Wiley‐ Andrew Harrison, Rosie Hayden and Frank Weinreich‐ for greenlighting my proposal and shepherding the publishing process. I would be remiss if I did not also thank my kind and patient copy‐editing team at Wiley.

In the end though this book would simply not have been written without the constant love and support from my parents – Elizabeth and Abraham – who have shown me what sacrifice and hard work looks like, and who have raised me to live without prejudice or judgment. This book has been written in memory of my husband and for our sons who have shown me what grace, courage, resilience and grit in the face of adversity and grief looks like. And, finally to the father of my two wonderful boys, I say thank you for giving me the gift of this unscripted, heart‐breaking/heart‐expanding journey. This book honors the legacy of his work at the UN in representing the smallest and most vulnerable countries in the struggle against climate change – a legacy that is owed to his sons.

Their father/my deceased husband – Ambassador John William Ashe – was one of the original negotiators of the first UN resolution calling for the historic 1992 Earth Summit, where the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was open for signature, and at which historic global agreement on sustainable development and environmental issues was first reached. The first of his family to get a college education, John completed a Master of Science in Bioengineering, and a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and had dual undergraduate degrees in Mathematics and Engineering. In an article entitled, “UN Diplomat Seeks Miracle: Bring Together Rich and Poor”, the New York Times referenced him as ‘one of the most influential diplomats’ at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development stating that: ‘He is chairman of the meeting’s trade and finance committee‐ the man charged with bringing together the rich and poor nations, which are feuding over how to reduce poverty while preserving the environment.’ When he died, I got hand‐written letters of condolence from many of his friends who had worked shoulder to shoulder with him negotiating diverse environmental challenges. One such letter from one of John’s dearest friends summarized him best: ‘He was indeed a great man, so exceptional that in a profession where titles are the norm, almost everyone called him John, not ‘Excellency”, not “Ambassador” – just John. A special and unique human being.’

John’s relevant achievements in promoting the sustainable development concerns of developing countries that comprise the majority voice in the United Nations (UN) are a matter of public record. He served in a leadership position, often as Chairman or Co‐Chairman in more than 40 committees and organizations of the UN. He worked to secure global consensus on a wide range of international negotiations ranging from climate change to persistent organic pollutants. He was the first chair of the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol and also chaired the Climate Convention’s Subsidiary Body on Implementation. He played a leading role as Co‐Chair of the Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development in 2012 and its historic global agreement, “The Future We Want.” As the President of the 68^th Session of the UN General Assembly, his efforts were critical in preparing the UN for reform, the introduction of the High‐Level Political Forum, and the preliminary work in reaching consensus on global agreements on Financing for Development as well as the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. For more than two decades at the UN, he made crucial and unprecedented contributions to sustainable development, and to almost every major multilateral environmental process and agreement within the UN system. On June 30, 2016, the UN General Assembly paid tribute to his memory and his accomplishments. And yet, despite his considerable work in the global arena, he was an inherently quiet and gentle man whose greatest gift and accomplishment was being a loving father to his sons. Always remembered and never forgotten are his acts of kindness to many in need, his calm spirit and infectious smile. May his soul, and the souls of countless others who have fought valiantly to make our shared planet a more inclusive place rest in peace.

Notes

1 * IPCC (2022) Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Summary for Policy Makers. Geneva: IPCC. https://report.ipcc.ch/ar6wg2/pdf/IPCC_AR6_WGII_SummaryForPolicymakers.pdf

2 The views and opinions expressed in this book are solely those of the author and should not be attributed to any organization or entity.