Einstein once said, “The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing”. This quote holds a stronger meaning today as we see more people in power deny the science and evidence that proves that our planet is slowly being destroyed. It may seem like we’re too small to really damage an entire planet, but the collective data shows that over a long period of time, we have been affecting the planet in a negative way. We are witnessing the domino effect that our actions have created.
Climate change heating up the planet does not just mean the extension of summer: it also means melting glaciers, rising sea levels, floods, stronger hurricanes, droughts, forest fires and heat waves. And yet, it seems like skeptics are judging global warming on whether they can put together a snowball as evidence that it’s still cold sometimes! What we need to understand is that the change doesn’t need to be instantaneous for us to start taking action: the goal here is to take actions to help reduce the speed at which this unfolds. By assuming that things aren’t so bad now, and that our problems will fix themselves in the future, we are accelerating towards the days of which irreversible consequences will come into effect.
https://biology.columbia.edu/news/meehan-crist-implications-covid-19-climate-change
Currently, we are facing a pandemic that is affecting thousands of lives around the world, yet when this virus first began to spread, there were many skeptics. This is a perfect example of something that could have been handled better if we had taken this seriously from the start. Had the general public done research and informed themselves, this pandemic could have been handled in a manageable way. Even with the amount of deaths rising and patients being put into intensive care, there are still cynical people who think this won’t affect them. Due to these same skeptics putting the lives of others in danger, this pandemic has spread even faster and wider. Our own president believed at some point that his enemies wanted him to keep everyone quarantined so it could make him look bad! What we must learn here is that we can slow down global warming, just as we have a chance of slowing down the spread of this virus. More people need to be informed. This is not a conspiracy anymore; this is a known fact that becomes increasingly noticeable year after year.
It seems that many people were skeptics about COVID-19 until they knew someone close to them that had been affected by it. We cannot let this be true for global warming, and we shouldn’t wait until the skeptics are personally affected by it. What we need to do is act now so future generations aren’t affected by it. We know that effects are already taking place, but we can still work collectively to confront the problem. This shouldn’t be an issue that separates everyone, but rather this should be an issue that unites and encourages everyone into finding a solution. We all live here, and it’s time we clean up after ourselves and take responsibility. We should not attack the skeptics, but educate them instead. Eventually, rather than spreading fear and false conspiracies, we will be able to spread facts and hope for everyone, Even though many people simply do not want to accept the facts.
As we can see from COVID-19, many hospitals are overrun with patients needing assistance daily. The tools necessary to treat these patients are running low as doctors and nurses continue to advocate for more help and equipment. It was not until the death rate began to rise that this matter was taken seriously, and aid was given. We do not want to make the same mistake for climate change. Finally, we must also note that there are people working hard to plant trees and do their part to help the planet. We simply cannot wait for someone else to act: we have to do it ourselves and lead by example.
References
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/04/climate/climate-change-acceleration.html
