We Are Not Doing Enough To Stop Climate Change

1896, Arrhenius wrote a paper on the effects of human CO2 emissions on global temperatures. 1960 Keeling accurately measured the CO2 levels in the atmosphere, and found a connection between CO2 and global temperature. 2001 the third IPCC report found that global warming will have serious effects on our future, and it is. Climate change is real, real bleak. Our planet has already warmed up 1 degree Celsius. The Paris Climate Change Agreement was created in order to keep the global temperature under 2 degrees Celsius. With every fraction of a degree lies untold tales of death and destruction. But we already know this. We know our current situation is bad, and it’s only going to get worse. We are not doing enough to prevent our world from becoming near apocalyptic. The sad reality is that many people don’t talk about climate change on a daily basis. Some believe it lies on a distant horizon, living by the phrase, “ignorance is bliss”. But for us, we had to come to terms with this terrifying reality. People like us – environmental experts, passionate activists, and radical leaders of tomorrow – we’ve all had that moment when we had to face climate change for what it is. And for most of us, that moment hurt, I know it did for me.

As a Gen Z kid, I grew up with the idea of climate change in the back of my mind. I had an inkling that it was going to occur sometime in the future. With proper environmental education, I knew I had to recycle, that electric cars are better, and the kid across the street putting chalk into the drain was not being environmentally friendly. And of course, at age 10, the only reason I cared was that there would be less food in the future. Which is true, but the more I learned about climate change, the more my perspective on it morphed.

Age 12, I feared what would become of us in the future. After all, our generation will be living in the consequences of today. Would there be enough water for us? Could I switch on my sink and have instant fresh water, or would that be a thing of the past? Would Mt. Rainier still have its characteristic snow-capped peaks? Would my life still be the same?

Age 14, I decided science is the route I wanted to pursue. As much as I wanted to ignore what was going on in our world, I knew climate change was coming. Around this time, I began to idolize Neil deGrasse Tyson, who is, by the way, the coolest astrophysicist ever. He has a show on Netflix called Cosmos, an Odyssey. So obviously I watched it, and the last episode was on climate change. Like any informational speech on climate change, he gave facts and trends that would affect us in the future. The key word was “future”. To 14-year-old me, that was an issue for later; the procrastination mentation started young. But what really struck me was the chain reaction. The fact that, more CO2 means increased temperatures, leading to the melting of the ice caps, leading to the release of greenhouse gases more powerful than CO2. The fact that, more CO2 means higher acidification levels in the ocean, leading to the death of coral reefs, leading to dying populations of sea life. The fact that, despite all these enormous negative impacts, we as humans are not doing enough, not nearly enough.

Climate change is one long Rube Goldberg machine which results in a mass extinction on planet Earth. All humans have to do is start the process, and our world will spiral out of control. Pick a natural disaster: wildfire, hurricane, heatwave. Chances are, research has already been done that proves the correlation between it and climate change. The worst part is – it’s always the people who have the least who are hurt the most. Only those who have the money can survive such an ordeal, meaning that millions of people in poverty are going to suffer at the hands of nature, nature that was influenced by people. People like us are the ones who created this issue. People like us are fearing the future. But, people like us also control our destiny. Like a guillotine, we have our head at the block and our hand on the rope. We can choose to let go, or hold on. Holding on means developing green technology. Holding on means restoring habitat. Holding on means looking climate change is the face, as it truly is. And it’s not our fault. A common misconception is that you left your light on, you didn’t recycle that paper, you used a plastic bag at the grocery store. But 71% of global emissions come from a mere 100 companies.

We can look at it through a different lens, a lens of anger. It’s not our fault, but it is our problem. Climate change is a challenge set forth to test human civilization, whether we have the courage to fix what has been done. The first step is acceptance. We cannot keep turning a blind eye to the problem. Especially being in Washington, we are some of the lucky ones who haven’t dealt with hurricanes or extreme lack of water. We are the future of human civilization. What we decide now will decide the lives of all animals, plants, and people in the future. Time is running out, we must act now, and we must act fast. Do it for the underprivileged, do it for the people who aren’t born yet. Do it for all life on Earth so they can live fearless on our pale blue dot.