It’s been a rocky start to the new year- and no matter how out of the loop you’ve been, it is hard to overlook that climate change is real- and it’s happening right now.
It was Greta Thunberg’s birthday yesterday, and since it fell on a Friday, she spent it just how she would spend any Friday- School Strike for the Climate campaign- with a seven-hour protest outside the Swedish Parliament braving the country’s harsh winters.
Much like investing for your retirement, we must act as soon as we can; we must act to hamper the effects of global warming from keeping us from even reaching retirement.
We’re lesser than a week into the new year and here’s what’s happening around the world:
The Australian bushfires–
An entire continent is ablaze and it’s hard to look away now. It has become ground zero for the climate catastrophe. It was bad enough that the Great Barrier Reef was dying, forests were vanishing, water shortages were crippling societies- but now, the continent is burning at a rate that hasn’t been seen before.
People are dying. Animals are dying. It’s time to panic. It’s time to start caring.
The Indonesia floods–
Women carry diapers as they cross an area flooded after heavy rains in Jakarta, Indonesia, January 2, 2020
The seas inevitably creep in closer every year, forcing families to move away from their homes. Indonesia, the archipelago of thousands of islands, with its incredibly long coastlines make it particularly vulnerable to climate change.
The sea levels will continue to rise. Every year. Is this what we’re considering to be our new normal?
But what can we do?
There’s a lot that you can do.
- Cut your carbon footprint as much as possible– Join a carpool, cycle to work, use public transportation. Switch to a ‘green’ energy provider. Install renewable energy sources for your electricity. Make the changes and urge other people to do the same.
- Get out and vote– Vote for people who understand climate change and the impact it has on the planet. Use your rights right. Vote for those who will aid against climate change’s detrimental effects.
- Optimise your diet– Remember that everything works on supply and demand. Try to adopt a vegan diet most days of the week- be ‘flexitarian’.
- Avoid single-use plastics- Plastic is everywhere and it’s not a good thing. It’s on streets, in rivers, in cosmetics, in our clothing and in the air we breathe. Animals are dying thanks to our single-use plastics. Is it really worth it?
To avoid global warming’s worst impacts, scientists recommend cutting global carbon emissions in half by 2030. The change needs to happen- and it needs to happen soon.
Or is an apocalypse soon to become our new normal?