‘Climate activism isn’t just important, it’s necessary’
By: Mary Wilson, Opinions Editor
I’d like to think that at one point, a hundred years or so from now, a generation will grow up wondering why their ancestors didn’t do more to prevent and stop climate change. They’ll ask, “Couldn’t they have done more? Why didn’t they do more? Why were they so preoccupied with party lines and political ideology? Didn’t they know? What was wrong with them?”
This elaborate fantasy simulation I’ve created and arguably spend too much time exploring is, of course, contingent on one key factor: that there is an Earth to protect in the future. Because at the rate we’re going, it’s unclear.
The United Nations calls climate change the “defining issue of our time.” NASA lists rising sea levels, the rise of the Earth’s temperature, extreme weather events, such as record high and low temperatures and record rainfall, warming oceans, and shrinking ice sheets as evidence for climate change. If we don’t act, the future is grim. We can expect rising sea levels, leading to land being submerged.
We can look forward to more record-high and record-low temperatures. Humans will need to prepare for changes in agriculture, and therefore, food supply.
Eventually, the Earth won’t be recognizable.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention claims that extreme weather disasters– caused by climate change–bring an increased risk of mental health and stress related disorders. The CDC website adds that diarrheal disease, a “major public health issue” in developing countries, is generally more common when the weather is warmer. The CDC goes on to say that “Risks of waterborne illness…are expected to increase in the Great Lakes region as a result of climate change.” Food security, pricing, and quality are also expected to change. Climate change is also increasing the vulnerability of “many forests to wildfires…and is also projected to increase the frequency of wildfires in certain regions of the United States.”
It comes down to one question: do we as humans care? To speak frankly, do we give a crap? Do we want our children to inherit, at the least, a planet in decent shape? Or do we want them to inherit a dying planet? A planet where food is scarce, diseases are rampant, wildfires rage, and health crises soar?
We’ve sat and argued and posted Facebook status updates and sent Tweets and yelled and denied science and waited for too long.
We don’t have the right to destroy this Earth.
It’s time to act.
It’s easy to feel powerless in this situation. After all, what difference can one person out of seven billion make?
Call your elected representatives. Go to rallies and marches. Talk to relatives who are under or un informed about the climate crisis. Register to vote. Tell friends to register to vote. Then get to the polling place on election day. Be the change.
It’s time to act.
