Why you should care about climate change

And things you can do as an individual

We all have been reading about climate change for decades now and yet we don’t seem to see or read any major news on the effects of global warming slowing down. Despite the treaties like the Paris agreement and the talk of a ‘green deal’, all we learn is we are releasing more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. By we I specifically want to point out the middle-class population (irrespective of the country we live in ) — individuals like you and me who are working hard on achieveing our goals and trying to enjoy life whenever we can, and saving money for a better future. Well, a better future is not guaranteed with money anymore.

Photo by Markus Spiske from Pexels

Why don’t we slow down?

The reason why we are not able to slow down is that we consume a lot. As our lives improve, we buy more products use more electricity, travel to more places, and with an increase in demand, the supply increases too. Yes, we all understand that but, it’s important to highlight that this consumption is not going to slow down, in fact, in the next 30 years, we will be using a lot more.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, International Energy Outlook 2019 Reference case

There are too many other reasons but the fundamental reason is that we don’t care enough. The stress of our day-to-day lives is enough to occupy us and not care about where our kitchen rolls are coming from or how much methane is released for a cheeseburger to reach to your plate. Moreover, being proactive hasn’t really been our strong quality. If we have learned anything from history is that we haven’t learned anything from history.

Take the example of COVID-19. Despite knowing the effects of a pandemic 100 years ago and finding answers to alarming concerns raised by experts— why do we need a global pandemic task force, how quickly an epidemic can become a pandemic, the magnitude of a second wave — we just saw the events unfolding that could have been prevented.

So why should we care now?

Two reasons. One, that our kids and grandkids can see the planet the way we do (and not roam around with oxygen cylinders tied to their back), and Two, forming habits take time and we can use that time now to change our consumption habits, by moving towards a net-zero emission lifestyle.

Here are a few things an individual can do to get started :

1. Get educated..and get others talking too: Start by understanding the numbers. How much are 51 billion tonnes of greenhouse emissions really? What is exactly is net zero emissions? How much can we reduce now?
   Start by reading this book. It gave me the right amount of introduction about what the situation is right now and what can be done. And when you have read it, share it with your friends, talk about it at your workplace, voice it on social media. The faster it becomes mainstream the faster words turn into actions.
2. Adapt to new consumption sources: This is the hard bit, but the most important one. The power is always in the hands of the consumer. With the change in demand, supply changes too. Broadly consumption is divided into electricity, food, construction, and transport. Large scale shift in switching to green alternatives will force companies to produce more carbon-free products, and make them cheaper too. We are already seeing a major shift with long-range EV cars and wide-scale adoption of plant-based meat.
3. Support leaders who care: While individual efforts are important, government actions are impactful on a large scale. Make calls, attend town hall meetings, and support leaders that are working hard in bringing legislation that promotes green consumption. Try not to turn this conversation into a political one. This is one issue where fundamental divisiveness based on political leanings will just slow things down.
4. Support R&D: There is some extraordinary work being done to tackle climate change but because of lack of government or institutional funding, the brilliant minds at work are not able to complete their projects, or sometimes the scale is limited to a few rich countries. Underdeveloped and developing countries will face the most severe consequences of climate change, widening the gap of poverty and inequality even more.

Deciding to care about climate change and start taking action on it might not look cool or trendy like Instagram or tik-tok trends. But this battle can’t be fought like we are doing with COVID-19 i.e. by being reactive. We have to be extremely proactive and keep fighting for a few years because, unlike the virus, climate change does not have a vaccine.