My major is very frustrating. This isn’t due to my classes being difficult, or the field’s competitiveness. What I find most frustrating about being an Environmental Policy Analysis and Planning major is that most people don’t seem to care. Or they didn’t, anyway, until the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its recent report estimating that mankind has only twelve years left to limit its environmental destruction before the full effects of climate change will be experienced.
Image source: Joanne Francis
I’ll admit that I did not care about the environment until recently. I was drawn to study AP Environmental Science during the fall of my senior year of high school since I was told it was an “easy A” class. My teacher was otherwise distracted, and I was ready to disengage and just chill through this class. However, upon delving into the assigned reading, my perspective of the world spun on its head and suddenly my passions were bolded, underlined, and saturated in a way that I could not ignore. I re-wrote all of my college essays and applied to an entirely different set of schools with UC Davis being at the top of my list for environmental studies.
My focus has been solely on environmental issues for a couple of years now, but it feels as though the entire world’s attention has suddenly turned to environmental causes and protection as a result of the IPCC’s report, which details the consequences living organisms will experience if Earth’s temperature rises greater than 1.5°C or 2.7°F. Increasing this temperature by even 0.5°C significantly increases the risk of natural disasters and other occurrences that accompany the phenomenon of climate change.
We have known that the planet was in trouble for a while. I learned about global warming in elementary school. So why haven’t things changed? Perhaps the reason that the average person is somewhat uneducated when it comes to issues of the environment is that the majority of the information is distressing. I’ll admit, I sometimes leave my classes feeling helpless and hopeless — I am essentially majoring in “Bad News About the Planet”. Another reason that people avoid environmental news is because certain information has been labeled as belonging to a specific political group.
While it is understandable to categorize environmental issues under specific political parties, the time has come to realize that environmental justice is no longer about money allocation or personal preference: environmental justice is about human survival. I do not intend to overlook animal species that have gone extinct as a result of human activity on Earth, such as the Western black rhinoceros which disappeared in 2001, or species that are currently going extinct, such as the polar bears. I just hope to emphasize that human destruction will likely not end until the fire is directly below us as a species. The “fire” has already begun to burn us: natural disasters such as forest fires, tornadoes, hurricanes, tsunamis, droughts, and earthquakes have occurred with a fierce swiftness as has never been seen before.
Image source: Marek Novotny
The necessary technology to help the environment has existed for years and is being utilized successfully in many Scandinavian countries like Denmark and Finland which expel the least amount of carbon dioxide per capita. Technology that uses renewable energy sources, such as solar power, geothermal energy, hydropower, or wind power eliminates the reliance on fossil fuels. This technology is waiting to be employed by countries with high carbon dioxide emissions. The best way to implement eco-friendly technology and policy is to pay attention to the measures and issues that concern the environment and vote accordingly.
Sources used:
The Guardian: “We have 12 years to limit climate change catastrophe, warns UN”
Wired: “It May Not Be Too Late for Polar Bears”
Telegraph: “Mapped: The world’s most eco-friendly countries – where does the UK rank?”
CNBC: “2017 — a year of disaster”
The Guardian: “Cape Town faces Day Zero: what happens when the city turns off the taps?”
The Guardian: “Hawaiian island erased by powerful hurricane: ‘The loss is a huge blow’”
Scientific American: “How the Western Black Rhino Went Extinct”
The Guardian: “The Swedish town on the frontline of the Arctic wildfires”
UN News: “Global warming report, an ‘ear-splitting wake-up call’ warns UN chief”