Fires, Floods, and Fickle Weather
Last year around this time, I was posting on here about the fires running rampant through Australia and the Amazon Rainforest. Unfortunately, this year is not much different. To date in 2020, California has lost 2.3 million acres to fires… that’s over 2 million more acres than what was burned in the entirety of 2019. In addition to fires, we have seen some intense weather changes all around the world lately.
This last week, in many states across the US, weather went from 95 degrees Fahrenheit to snowing the very next day. It’s nearly becoming impossible for people to continue denying what is happening to our planet. The climate is changing, our impact is being seen, and action is overdue.
How are we seeing climate change
Some could argue that hurricanes, fires, and crazy weather changes happen every single year, and the truth of the matter is… that’s true! The difference is the intensity of the weather events we’re seeing. Fires are more frequent, more acres are burned every year, hurricanes are intensifying. Every year, bit by bit, things escalate. Unfortunately, it’s been this way for a long time, many of us just weren’t paying attention when the shifts were subtle.
However, it’s not subtle anymore. And while it’s natural for us to look at all of the things that are happening around the world and feel like it’s all overwhelming and crazy, all of the crazy events are connected and therefore have the same solution. We simply have to be willing to make the sacrifices required for that solution to be implemented. The problem is, many of us don’t look at the whole picture, or worse, are completely uninformed about the extent of the issues around the world.
For example, people in India are experiencing more run-ins with tigers due to climate change, however, this isn’t something people in the UK may often think about as an impact of a changing climate because they do not have wild tigers. And because of things like this, our perception of climate change continues being small. Unfortunately, when we confine our view of climate change simply to what is currently impacting us, we don’t see the bigger picture. If you live on the west coast on the United States right now, your house may be burning down, but there is a person in Spain who does not even know about these fires and therefore does not see a reason to act on climate change.
When it comes down to it, we’ve been faced with these ongoing issues for decades. We just are not looking at it on a global scale and choosing to make a difference to make somebody else’s life better. We are seeing this pattern year after year. We post on social media “pray for the Amazon” but is anything changing in our day to day lives? For somebody in Brazil, probably. But for somebody in France, maybe not.
the truth is…
Until our attitude on climate change shifts from re-sharing content on social media and feeling sorry for those impacted, to (still re-sharing content because education is everything) and making true and real change to stop not only the current events, but prevent the future events, we will be unsuccessful.
The question we all need to be honest with ourselves about is… am I willing to change my daily habits (even if I am not feeling any of the impacts of climate change yet) to benefit my future and people I’ve never met?
Because when the earth starts to fall apart, so do we. It’s sad that we have to see a pandemic, the earth on fire, and animals going extinct to finally open our eyes to what’s going on around us. But if that is our takeaway from 2020, I would count that as a win. So let’s make 2020 the year that we all started prioritizing climate change, and doing something about it!
Source: Harvard Belfer Center
Until we do, we should expect more lost land to fires, increasing intensity of hurricanes, elevated human and animal death from battling for resources.
ok ok, so what can i do?!
I’m glad you asked! It won’t be easy, but we can still come out on top of climate change. Here are some small ways you need to be contributing:
Get in touch with your local government! We need policy in place to regulate major polluters and reduce the footprint we are leaving.
VOTE! We need leaders who prioritize the health of the planet!!
Plant a tree (I know this sounds cliche, but it actually is incredibly important! Also, gardening is good for your mental health so this one is a 2 for 1)
Reduce your single use items, go low or zero waste. If you’re not sure where to start, here are some resources!
Avoid setting fire to the earth (I thought this one was fairly obvious, but considering some of the fires throughout the west coast of the US right now were man made… I guess not.)
Share this post. We could all use some eco-friendly reminders.
Finally, always continue learning and shifting your world view. It’s ok to be wrong, it’s ok to change and start doing things differently. There is no shame in realizing that what you’re doing may not be helpful in the fight against climate change. There’s no room for ego when it comes to cleaning up our planet because none of us have all the answers, we’re all just learning together.