As you know, last Monday the united nations met to discuss the climate problems we are facing today, unless you have been living under a rock and never realized. What makes it worse is that the U.S states pulled out of the Paris agreement, making it other countries to clean out our “ 38.5 million tons of trash(2018) ” according to the plastic pollution coalition.
Some climate problems we have seen in recent years are the ever-increasing heat and global warming, hurricanes, longer droughts as seen in California 2016-2017, and heat records were broken continuously, the last one in France, Britain, and the Netherlands last July.
As you know Greta Thunberg participated in the Summit, she stated: “the eyes of all future generations are upon you”. 65 countries have stood up to this problem and announced to “achieve net-zero emissions by 2050”. While fund managers “aim to get to a net-zero portfolio of investments”. This means to reuse energy.
Some countries have also taken action, prime minister Narendra Modi of India to increase their share of renewable energy, and chancellor Andela Merkel of Germany to proposed a 60 billion plan to reduce greenhouse gas emission by 2030
Something I found interesting was that our trash was being imported to China and letting them solve our issue. But also blaming China and other countries to take climate change “seriously”. Towards the beginning of the year, the Chinese government cut back imported trash, because it was getting too expensive to recycle. It also endangers the health and resources of Chinese residents.
Questions:
What should we as a community help out the environment
Do you think we as one of the wealthiest nations be solving global warming issue
What would you start doing differently to help out?
5 comments:
As a firm believer in climate justice, I think it’s important for all nations, regardless of wealth, to invest into renewable energy sources to help reduce our emissions. As a community, I think supporting businesses that are conscious about the climate is definitely a step in the right direction. This could mean using paper rather than plastic straws, as well as always having a reusable bag for groceries. Like what Greta said in the congressional hearing she participated in, many smaller countries look to the USA to initiate climate justice, so I think we have a vital responsibility in turning the situation around. And while I don’t think we need to take emission-free boat rides to help (like Greta), there are other ways we can reduce our individual carbon footprint. Reducing our consumption of store-bought single use water bottles could be a great way to help. Not only does this reduce the amount of plastic we are dumping, but it also financially makes sense (just get a Brita water filter).
I think it is really important that elementary and middle schools talk about climate change and the importance of protecting our planet. The schools should discuss ways that students can do little things to improve their carbon footprint such as using reusable water bottles and making sure to compost and recycle. This way, by the time students reach high school, they will already be in the habit of being more environmentally friendly. I think one issue (besides Trump’s lack of concern for climate change) is that while a significant amount of people acknowledge that climate change exists, many believe it won’t impact them directly. This leads to a lack of motivation for people to change the ways they live.
While I do agree with Carlos that all nations should invest into renewable energy sources, actually researching, implementing, and maintaining sustainable practices places a high demand on the natural resources and treasury of third-world countries. First-world countries, on the other hand, have a much greater time with sustainable practices since they have a surplus of resources to carry through with the changes. If the United States does not help reduce its impact, the least it can do is help another developing country build up their infrastructure so that their use of resources is more efficient and clean, compared to when they were left to themselves. Before sustainable practices can be implemented, the overall well-being of the nation should be first priority; when a nation is prosperous, only then can shift attention towards the environment.
I believe that climate change is real and it will affect current and future generations to an extent if steps aren't taken to resolve the causes of global warming and climate change. I too was surprised to find out that my recycling was shipped over to China and some other third world countries. And those countries are now shipping that trash back to the United States. There needs to be more awareness about these issues so that people understand to limit their use of plastic and other dangerous products. I will do my part by being more environmentally conscious of my purchase decisions and limit the use of plastics and different to recycle packagings in my purchases. The US should take steps to aggressively tackle the leading causes of anthropomorphic global warming. We should rapidly increase our use of renewable energy and become less reliant on non renewable sources such as coal and oil. We should also encourage further innovation around electric vehicles, electric mass transport, and develop technologies to help clean the environment. Part of the challenge is that this will have an impact on old industries that have a reliance on coal and oil. But we must be courageous and switch to industries that are more environmentally beneficial to limit the economic impact. But even if there are short term negative economic impact, the long term environmental impact will be disastrous.
The biggest contributors to climate change are the richest countries (such as the US), yet, the poorest countries are feeling its destructive effects first. I think we, as Americans, need to have the largest role in the reversal of global warming. We are not only one of the worst polluters, but also one of the most influential countries. Our lack of real, widespread action is hurting those––in the third world––who can do little to combat what we have done to them, and this needs to change. What Americans have to do is completely change the way we think and live. Materialism and pinning issues on future generations is destroying our planet, and we don't get another one of those. We need action, innovation, and education to create cleaner, more sustainable, clothes, factories, transportation, diets, habits, and industries.
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