Resources and Information on environmental information
I want to take this time before earth day to write about the current state of the world. This is a topic that has meant a lot to me for a long time. I studied Biology and environmental sciences while in school, and was also involved in several student-led coalitions. Eventually years passed, the work grind and daily living changed my priorities. Due to that, I fell into blissful apathy. Like many of you, I was torn between trying my best to make small changes, but constantly being hit with the overwhelming realization that even mindful consumption as an American bears an environmental burden that the planet cannot sustain.
With regards to the environment, it feels like there isn’t much a person can do to really make an impact. In my opinion, I think this describes how many of us feel when considering this. We find ourselves wavering between concern and apathy, or perhaps resentment when we see that our small efforts are canceled out by the actions of another. Many ask the question “What can I do as an individual?” and “Does anything I do matter?”. Given the prevalence of these conversations, makes them worth addressing and modifying these thoughts with more accurate mental models of the situation.
Reality checks have a way of resurfacing. The planet demonstrates many warning signs
through changes in collected data. Evidence reaffirms there’s not much to debate in the facts. As is
the case with many, they aren’t lacking the information. For some, the diagnosis may be just a thicker
skull with regards to changing information. Apathy often arises when day-to-day survival alone becomes challenging, the plagues of physical and mental health recalibrate our priorities and actions. It's difficult to survive our day to day, let alone worry about things on a global scale. Despite all these things, It's hard to overstate the gravity of these issues without sounding like an alarmist. The data from scientific research is abundantly clear: We are in a climate emergency, and there is no denying it. We must act now.
In brief, we are on a smoldering ship and most of our problems are interrelated in some way, some issues are projected to worsen over time as factors like population and consumption models project non-linear trajectories, thereby accelerating the rate of change. Average global temperatures are trending upwards, which causes ice caps to melt at an alarming rate. The volume displaced causes sea levels to rise, which decreases the area of land particularly affecting coastlines, all the while affecting the normal flow of currents and airways which leads to more severity and frequency of natural disasters like wildfires and hurricanes. Atmospheric pollution of CO2, Methane, Nitrogen and other pollutants erode the ozone protection of our atmosphere and affect ecosystems, while aquatic pollution makes the oceans more acidic, killing essential marine life(where ~70% of our oxygen is produced). Aside from the environmental impact, current projections have put the current climate emergency and all its tolls with a price tag in the trillions. We are experiencing habitat loss, massive human casualty costs, and these are only the tip of the iceberg. This is not hyperbole- this may be the biggest pressing issue in terms of social and economic issues because they impinge on so many other things happening on the world stage. Human rights issues are tangentially related here-with the increased spread of physical and mental illness, wars, food and land shortages, displacement of humans, as well as other species due to natural disasters, ecological and economic collapse of nations are also projected. I understand that many of these may be hard to trace a link or may come as quite shocking, but these are not novel concepts. I will share and link more in depth information in another article for those interested in further reading.
The nature of complex issues is that they won't be resolved with simple solutions. I encourage you to do what you can, and also share these items with others or enact these where you live or where you work if applicable.
Many movements over the years have emphasized the importance of the impact from the average consumer. While a lot of these ideas like using less water when showering, carpooling and reducing our consumption of resources or recycling at an individual level are great, they only help to slow the bleeding, yet these alone are not enough. The real impactful change comes from the largest offenders in terms of industry and nations
When faced with the aforementioned information, the situation might feel hopeless. Our efforts, however massive, may still come up short because the larger impact needs to happen at scale.
Here are a few items that will make actionable change:
- Collectively reducing our consumption of goods lowers demand and decreases the amount of manufacturing at scale
- Buy and use power saving options with electronics
- Trading your vehicle in for an electric one
- Working from home/walking/biking to places more often (especially shorter trips)
- Reducing our consumption of electricity (since most of it comes from carbon emitting sources)
- Voting for scientifically literate politicians
- Voting in local elections/initiatives/petitions to enact local change Pressuring elected officials to:
- Divest from polluting energy sources
- Switching to and investing in the betterment of alternative fuel sources like solar, wind, hydroelectric, geothermal nuclear (fission/fusion)
- Make the switch to power sources with a lower carbon footprint
- Educating ourselves, and others to make better habits and choices
- Voting with our money by opting to support companies that are enacting climate friendly practices
If you’ve made it this far I appreciate you. I hope we allow ourselves to listen when it is hard, speak up when it is difficult, and find at least one thing within our means to help with the global efforts underway. Do not underestimate the transformative power of choice. Making even one small change each month or year has a compounding effect and can make massive changes seem more attainable.
The last thing I want to leave you with, is this: Don’t give in to the feeling of apathy, if enough people think their efforts won't matter, no one will take action. If enough people realize that this matters, we WILL move closer to our goal. Thank you for your time.
-Jose (HitMeWMusic)