I will be perfectly honest with you. Climate change is in the headlines now because a lot of shocking things have happened all at once. But there is nothing new about the matter and it certainly isn’t fresh news. We have been talking about it for over thirty years.
Politicians have chosen whether or not to mention it, depending on their priorities and popularity and so it has been largely ignored in the press because we haven’t been able to pinpoint its direct affects on Northern Europe and North America. Leaders such as Trump defiantly encouraged others to take no notice of influential climate change activists like Greta Thunberg.
It’s always been an Antarctica or Greenland thing. Even desertification in Africa hasn’t really raised many eyebrows.
Big businesses that involved fossil fuel guzzling enterprises were keen to play it down and even provide weak evidence that it wasn’t even true. It has taken events in the developed world to really alter people’s perception of climate change. It can no longer be seen as ‘something that doesn’t affect us’. The only trouble is, because we are responding to it late it has already started to increase its pace.
Wake-up Call
Global warming definitely has been happening for a long time. Average temperatures have increased by at least one degree Celsius since 1970 and it has been easy to observe the impact as winters have become less cold and snowy, whilst summers have warmed. It has taken extreme weather conditions to really open people’s eyes though.
Events that have really drawn headlines:
1) The persistent forest fires in Brazil, California and even Canada.
2) Devastating floods in Belgium and Germany. Even more recently, flash floods which swamped underground stations in London.
3) The accelerated depletion of large ice sheets in Antarctica.
4) Zac Efron
Now I am not even joking when I mention Zac Efron (along with other high profile celebrities). His Netflix show ‘Down to Earth’ involved a lot of material about sustainable living and discussed topics such as availability of water, extinctions of animals and the threats posed by global warming.
All I can say, as a geographer and keen environmental blogger, is that it is about time! Now we have the audience, let’s really start making impactful changes. Everyone says small things make a difference but when it comes to the environment we need everybody on board and institutional changes.
How do you feel about climate change?
Are you keen to make a change?
I’d love to see your comments below and if you enjoyed my blog please consider following it for more similar future posts. here is a previous post that I wrote about being eco-friendly: https://jamieadstories.blog/2021/07/07/how-eco-friendly-are-you/
You’re so right, this is not new news but hopefully with all the blatant nature problems and coverage people will be able to ignore less and be proactive. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for reading. Glad you agree.
People need to wake up to this now.
Climate change really isn’t new news and it bugs me hearing politicians and Big companies talk about the things everyone should do to offset it, and while I agree that we all have to do our part, it’s staggering just how much companies and such are doing more damage in the long run yet aren’t being held accountable for it! It really is about time more attention is drawn to it, I just hope that the biggest offenders take more action to help.
Absolutely! Nailed it.
For some strange reason, most people are subject to propaganda. If they didn’t worry about climate change and the end of the world, they would have to find something else. Perhaps aliens in space.
I also get concerned when people I know are aware of the climate crisis don’t take it into consideration when making choices about their future (though admittedly, I am sometimes guilty of this too).
Being more open and vocal about changes we make in our day to day lives can inspire people to make changes themselves. And while personal changes are, independently, negligible, millions of people making personal changes can add up to big changes.
Yes and pressuring governments is important as well. Thanks for commenting.
Along with choice of hair sprays.
Yes