It’s Not a Myth
Who’s exhausted from hearing the constant talk about climate change? Apparently we’re all completely ignorant and the environmentalists are standing alone in their quest to slow the rate of pollution.
But come on, right? Many of us say that we care about the issue and most of us claim that we are conscious about our ecological footprint and make attempts to reduce it. Maybe tree huggers just have a passion for concocting controversial posters, researching the main causes of the greenhouse gas emissions and blocking traffic flow on streets with their oh-so-necessary megaphones.
There are two intriguing aspects about the environmentalists. For one, their title implies that they’re a mentalist clan. Apart from that, they aren’t consistent. Everybody claims that a different cause of greenhouse gas emissions is the greatest and most impactful cause. Vegans say it’s animal production, tree lovers say it’s forest fires, while other random people that hate plastic say it’s fossil fuels. At least they can all agree that climate change is caused by human activity. Once again, it is our fault.
Next, we must question if climate change is as terrible as we’ve been told. We’ve heard time and time again that the increase in atmospheric temperature is causing more deaths from heat waves, the melting of the ice caps that serve as habitat to the remaining ⅓ of polar bears since 1957, and the storage of methane, the increased risk of coral extinction from bleaching, rising sea levels, increased air borne diseases, ocean acidification, decreased clean water supplies and increased amount of forest fires.
Don’t fret! There is always the possibility that the pros exceed the clearly many cons of climate change. Less people die from frostbite, the Northwest Passage is now a smooth and melted path between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, Greenland’s economy is improving due to fishing, plankton biomass in certain parts of the ocean could possibly be increasing and we may be able to expect a possible decrease in the frequency of Montreal’s potholes.
I retract my exclamation about not needing to fret as it seems that the pros do not eclipse the cons. Climate change is a cataclysm.
There is one important fact to share. Respectively, China, the United States and the European Union are responsible for 27%, 14% and 10% respectively of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2017, while Canada was responsible for only 2% that year. So, should we be working more on our own footprint? Or should we encourage sustainable energy production in other countries?
And so we have arrived at a conclusion. Humans are the reason for climate change and the issue is indeed a threat. Instead of simply unplugging phones at 100% battery from their chargers, perhaps we should head over to our neighbors with a mirror in hand.
Written by: Anne Awnimis
