Humans have many enemies (it’s part of our nature), but let’s talk about one we all share, one that has been around since the industrial revolution: climate change. Why is it that only now are people starting to take notice of the consequences of their irresponsible and detrimental actions that contribute to the destruction of nature? Why is it that we are fuelling the very thing that is killing the earth?

 

From a young age in school, we often learn about securing a “sustainable future”, meaning we can provide for ourselves whilst still leaving enough to provide for future generations. This should mean solar panels on every roof and wind turbines in every field! However, this is neither practical nor cheap, so fossil fuels are still being consumed at a very fast rate. This releases greenhouse gases leading to an increase in global warming, melting of ice caps, rising of sea levels, more floods, heavy coastal erosion and ultimately the extinction of all life- sounds more destructive than “sustainable”. Even though it won’t actually lead to the death of all species on earth, using fossil fuels does have dramatic impacts on the environment, yet these rates of use do not seem to be decreasing. It is a fact that thousands of species are endangered and that sea levels are rising, but people are too focused on meeting their needs now rather than thinking about the needs of the future. The only way to reduce these environmental risks is to reduce the use of fossil fuels, although that does seem to be almost impossible. The question is: will people just wait for fossil fuels to run out in the near future? 

 

The future will be hard for Gen Z and future generations because we’re the ones who will be dealing with the mess made by the adults of today. In thirty years, when over half of the Amazon Rainforest is gone and we’re wearing oxygen masks to survive, we will look back upon the actions of politicians and regret the decisions they did or didn’t make. Maybe global warming will decrease, and maybe the climate will eventually be stable, but we cannot rely on “maybe” to guarantee a safer future. This is why YOU as a human needs to do more research on how you can help save the planet, whilst WE as a society need to take action now to ensure that the future we create is a safer future for all.