Climate crisis is an international concern for all of us
March 4, 2020
At the start of January, a devastatingly large forest re that covered about 1.5 million acres spanning across Australia. According to TIME, the res was caused primarily due to global warming because Australia had been “abnormally dry” since September.
Unfortunately, the fires have worsened the effect of global warming dramatically. According to Washington Post, about a billion animals (some unique to Australia), have been killed in the res: some have even become extinct. The number
of greenhouse gasses emitted from this mega-fire is equivalent to a year worth of Australia’s annual greenhouse gas emissions. If that wasn’t bad enough, many dense rainforests were also destroyed in there.
The threat of these fires may seem distant, but we should all realize that these instances of natural disasters are related to the rapidly growing threat of global warming. The Washington Post states that Austin has favorable conditions for its own mega-fire. The threat is real people, and it is no one group of people to blame. Instead, we all are part of the problem and can be part of the solution.
The younger generation notoriously blames the older generation for lax regulation that has allowed global temperatures to rise. As stated by TIME, President Donald Trump has called climate change a hoax, and his administration has turned away from every opportunity to do anything to address it.
Considering the increased rate of events like the Australian mega-fire and the lack of action that our government is taking to address climate change, it is easy for us to get cynical and give up hope that anything can be done.
We blame adults and oftentimes we don’t do anything to get climate change ourselves. And yet somehow we still expect that we are going to have a healthy planet to live on in the future.
There are many easy things you can do, or habits you can develop, that will help the problem before it is too late. Becoming vegetarian can reduce the carbon footprint of what you eat by 50%, and for diets like veganism, that number is even higher. Hosting your own clothes swap and trading old clothes with friends to get new ones, or even just thrifting can reduce the impact of global warming tremendously as it avoids the huge waste of the fast fashion industry.
There are many things you can do to stand up against global warming without being able to vote or having access to a huge social media platform. Blaming the problem on other people doesn’t change the fact that it is still a problem. Take charge in your future by incorporating simple global friendly techniques in your daily life, before it’s too late.
