I want to talk about Climate Change. Why? Because it’s a hot button topic currently and it needs to be discussed, and backed up with action. You may have noticed that I have used upper case letters for Climate Change; the reason is, at least to me, the situation is that severe, it deserves capital letters.
Before I go any further, we need to clear up two things about this blog post. Firstly, I try in vain to make my blog posts funny and entertaining, which is more difficult than I thought it would ever be. Talking about comics, being a parent, the DMZ, are lots of fun to me. However, I find nothing funny about the concept of Climate Change.
Secondly, I have to assume something about you.1 If you’re reading this blog, I have to assume you must accept two things: 1.) Climate Change is real, and 2.) Climate Change is caused by human activity and it’s increasing. Also let’s make sure we all agree what Climate Change actually is.
The way I understand Climate Change, are the overall global weather patterns, caused by an increased build up of greenhouses gases like carbon dioxide (CO2) and others, like methane. This is done through burning fossil fuels like coal, petrol and oil; deforestation; agricultural techniques and livestock farming; among other things.
What this means, is that the Earth is slowly becoming warmer. Because global weather patterns are connected, and if the average global temperature continues to rise, the regions that are hot, will get hotter; the regions that are cold; will get colder. Basically, global weather patterns will take steroids, and dial worldwide disasters up to 11.
Sweet, we’re on the same page, now.
So…. can you stop Climate Change by yourself? No, no you can’t. The situation is too massive for any one person to solve. However, can you do anything about Climate Change? Yes, yes you can.
From my perspective, Climate Change is a leveller. It doesn’t matter about your age, gender, religion, nationality, job, sexual orientation, or anything else; Climate Change affects every single person in the world, in addition to the non-human residents, that we share this spinning ball of rock and water with.
The world’s greatest living science communicator, Sir David Attenborough, recently said at COP26 (26th summit of Conference of the Parties):
“We are, after all, the greatest problem solvers to have ever existed on Earth.” “If working apart, we are a force powerful enough to destabilise our planet. Surely working together, we are powerful enough to save it.”
That man is 95 years old, and he can still kick more arse in one day, that I can do in my entire life. With that message, what can any one person do, to reduce the amount of CO2 in the Earth’s atmosphere? You can do it by making small changes in your lifestyle, but also inspiring others to change as well.
Slowing down Climate Change, can seem quite over whelming for a species, let only for a single person. Having said that, here are some simple lifestyle choices, that can help you reduce your CO2 emissions, on a daily basis. You don’t have to sacrifice anything, it’s all about making small changes, that slowly add up.
I need to point something out: Climate Change was not caused by you, and you alone. It’s not your personal responsibility to fix this problem; however you are more than entitled to help, and inspire others to help as well.
Central and local governments; international, national, and local companies; corporations; and communities, all have to help, not just you. There are many factors that stand in our way like technology, poverty, taxes, employment, politics, laws, and the economy, that need to be considered and solved.
This is because my CO2 emissions, will be different from somebody living in the USA, or Libya, or Ghana, or China, or any other place that ends with the letter “A”. You however, are allowed to make other people care, so they can act too.
Small changes can be:
- Switching to an electric car or lawnmower.
- Setting up a car pool.
- Riding more public transportation.
- Walking or cycling more.
- Buying local produce.
- Buying and planting more trees.
- Eating less meat.
- Turning off electricity, when you don’t need it.
These changes can help with the battle against Climate Change, but if we as a species want to win this war, we need to get very serious, very quickly. If you want real changes against rising CO2 emissions, then you only have one last resort: democracy.
Large changes can be:
The answer is about elections, in particular, voting. To really bring about meaningful and positive results in the campaign of lowering CO2 emissions, we need to do two things: influence the decision makers; and vote into power, people whom are passion about solving this problem. The decision and law makers hold the future of life on this planet in their hands; it’s our job to convince them to save this world.
You need to get them to care.
At local and national elections, you should look for candidates that have strong Climate Change polices, and vote for them. We do not need any more people of authority, dismissing or not understanding how severe the situation is. We need the right polices, the right technology and the right people in power.
It’s up to us to put them there, so they can execute our will and solve the problem of Climate Change; and we need it now.
Before I go and stop UMC1 and UMC2 from jumping on their beds again, I want to credit and thank Kurzgesagt for their Climate Change video. Their video can explain things to a far better clarity on the topic, than I could ever hope to achieve.
They are not a sponsor, because I am not popular enough to be sponsored; I just love their work. They are the best at what they do, and what they do is amazing.
To quote Jonathan Hickman, the writer of East of West:
“No. It’s not a game. This is the world. It is not the one we were supposed to have, but it’s the one we made. We did this. We did it with open eyes and willing hands. We broke it, and there is no putting it back together. But I’m damned already… so at least I’m going to try.”
With fighting Climate Change, we need to do better. I’m in; are you?
Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next week.
1 You know what they say; you should never assume, because it makes an ass out of you and me.
SOME GEEK TOLD ME 
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