Recently, a fire broke out in the waters outside the Yucatan Peninsula. While news sources will get into specifics, “it was the Pemex oil company responding to a gas leak,” many were horrified at the mere idea of the ocean catching fire. Some compared the fire to the Cuyahoga River fire, and how we can fix it by working together.
Retrieved from The Irish Times.
Honestly, I’m not worried about these ‘big flashy problems.’ Like the Cuyahoga River fires, the solution is simple; stop polluting in a certain area. I’m more worried about the slow, gradual changes in the Climate Crisis. The question isn’t whether the crisis is here. The question is what are we going to do, since it has already arrived.
Don’t take my word for it. The experts at JP Morgan did a study to see what risks they may have in the future, related to their business. They came to the conclusion that they ‘cannot rule out human extinction.’
Today I took my campers to see The Search for Snow; a fun film about how snow impacts our world. In it the narrator talks about how wonderful snow is, how it gives such a wonderful texture to our world. But he also shared his concern, that his grandkids may never get to see snow where he grew up. That snow will be reduced to the poles only, and only then seasonally.
Yes, that would be sad if his grandkids wouldn’t get to play in the snow like he has. But would they be able to live in the North East at all? If there is no snow, we could experience extreme droughts by the year 2100. For an ecosystem bursting to the brim with water, such a drastic change would mean a permanent change in the overall composition of biodiversity.
So far, I have been doing a pretty terrible job about teaching Climate Change. Even calling it the Climate Crisis gives it a charged tone that will make some instantly not listen to my message. We need to do proper actions, like calling our senators and participating in community cleanup days.
Every time I hear others in the environmental movement talk about ‘proper actions,’ I think of this sculpture by Issac Cordal titled “Follow the Leaders.”
I’m glad that the White House website recognizes that Climate Change is real again, but it isn’t enough. I’m glad some are cleaning up our oceans, but it isn’t enough. I’m glad that I can be a part in teaching the next generation about our wonderful world, but it isn’t enough.
Did you know that many companies used take back the ‘waste’ of their products? Take Coca-Cola, who would gladly accept their glass bottles. But when plastic bottles became cheaper, they decided it was easier to blame their waste on the consumers by creating propaganda like Keep America Beautiful.
The Climate Crisis wasn’t caused by you or me, but by organizations who took the cheap way out. Call out the fires that you see around you.
