Can we solve the climate crisis without confronting global inequities?
A recent study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA found that white residents in the USA produce more climate pollution than black or hispanic residents, but black and hispanic people are exposed to more air pollution.
And that is just the USA! Think about the global inequities in the "haves" and the "have nots".
And how are we going to lift people out of poverty without making the climate crisis even worse?
If you are a resident in a wealthy country, is it your responsibility to address both problems at once? And what would that look like in terms of national and international policy?
Environmental Justice
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YES YES YES! All schools these days should 100 percent get a compost bin for the cafeteria, cause just think of all the uneaten food and where it's going out into the world.
I totally agree. Compost bin in cafeteria is one way that students can participating in helping the environment. Here are some advantages that I found online. To begin with, approximately 84% of food waste from restaurants is disposed of in the garbage, according to a research on restaurant food waste done by the Business for Social Responsibility. Composting not only stops this percentage from rising, but it also has positive effects on the environment. The absence of synthetic chemical fertilizers in compost is the largest advantage for the environment. We consume these chemicals when they are employed in the soil to cultivate fruits and vegetables. Additionally, when it rains, synthetic fertilizers wash away and harm local species. Composting produces healthier produce and has less of an adverse impact on the environment than chemical fertilizers.
I Agree with you. I know someone who works as a school lunch server and they have told me about how much food is wasted because all they do with the excess food is throw it in the trash. I believe schools, restaurants, and other places with lots of food shouldn't throw away unused food but give it away to people in need. They could do many things like give it to charities or serve it to the homeless, or even put it in to a compost bin. In conclusion people in general should try their best to avoid wasting food and if they can give some to people in need.
I totally agree with you. I like the idea of having compost bin for the cafeteria. In my last school we had compost in the school yard. I think that every school (and all the places that produce a lot of food) should have it because a lot of food goes to waste. Composting also has a positive impact on the environment.
Students who live in an urban center know less about composting. Examples of good practice could be integrated into their everyday life.
The coordination of specific activities would contribute to the integration of these behaviors that will have a finality in a more or less near future. EDUCATION makes the difference
I totally agree with you. I think that is a great idea because lots of food gets thrown away. Compost bin in cafeterias can have positive impact on the environment.
Compost bins are one of the great options for buildings and companies to take a bit of climate initiative. One of the big issues in schools though is that children don’t sort their waste properly. To combat this we can educate them earlier on little ways they can make change, and push for compostable utensils and plates.
Very true, I think composting is a great way to reuse the food we don’t eat. Also home gardens could be a great way to implement compost and get fresh food out to everyone.
I think that in order to make our energy more clean that we need to advocate for more solar panels and other clean energy sources like wind turbines.
Cons of cattle farming-
Contributes about 11%–17% of global greenhouse gas emissions
.methane and nitrous oxide released from digestion
.land use and conversion and desertification
.vast amount of food and resources being consumed
.1,800 gallons of water per pound of beef produced.
The costs of the cattle industry greatly outweigh any benefits in my opinion. It takes up massive plots of land while producing minimal meat. There are a lot more climate friendly options, like Guinea pigs that take up a lot less space and resources. Alternatively, you can pick a vegetarian or vegan diet.
Environmental pollution is a very negative thing that affects the entire planet sooner or later, for example animals, humans, landscapes, forests.
If we do not end them in the future we would not be able to live on our planet due to so much pollution.
I agree with you, but I think that there are more details that you can bring to the surface. Humans are the main cause of environmental pollution. Our everyday tasks and everyday routines pollute the environment. Some examples of this are, bonfires, eating not organic meats, phone usage, and clothes that we wear that are produced in factories. But, we can do better with these things in the future. Some things that we can do to reduce environmental pollution are eating more vegetation foods, turning off lights when we don't need them on, trying our best to conserve energy, and not buying things from huge industries. Those are only some of the things we can do to make environmental justice, save animals, landscapes, and forests from what we are doing to ourselves.
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I think that sustainability can come naturally to those who can't go around tossing money down the drain. I find families with less money tend to use items that would otherwise go in the garbage or find creative solutions that don't involve buying more products. For example: reusing Ziploc bags, using plastic bags as garbage bags, using bread bags to store food in the fridge, keeping plastic takeout cutlery and containers and unused condiment packets. I can't imagine most of the ultra-rich do this as well.
I definitely agree with this, I think being in the upper middle class, I don't tend to see the luxuries of having unlimited supplies of single use practice but having that never ending supply makes reusing it seem not necessary which causes me to use more. I think it hard to get this through the upper classes head, the thought of finding alternate uses for what they see as "garbage" would probably go against their lifestyle which most have been taught their entire lives.
Instead of throwing your plastic away after the very first use, you could reuse it, like plastic water bottles, plastic containers, etc, and when you are done using them, you could recycle them and take them to a local plastic recycling place.
I agree we should reuse plastic and recycle it when we cant anymore. Though I wonder how much of the plastic actually gets reused when we recycle it.
I agree. Also, I recognized as a German that more countries should start separating their trash. Most of people just throw everything together, but we should separate plastic, glass, and paper so we can reuse them.
Plastic recycling is so beneficial to our environment, in more ways than one. Recycling our plastic means we won’t have to keep filling up the landfills with plastic that could be reused and reduced. Reducing our trash in the landfills also means, we reduce how much of it ends up in the oceans, streets, homes, etc. Being able to reuse the trash helps us with keeping out landfills and the environment even cleaner.
--Triniti Tikoi
I believe that there should be more regulations on recycling certain products in order to have a reason for people to recycle instead of leaving trash and plastic on streets that eventually ends up in the ocean and ultimately killing innocent sea creatures.
I agree that if we are going to use plastic we should reuse it and then recycle it when it can't be used anymore, but it would be better to buy reusable containers/water bottles than plastic.
I agree with you. I recycle trash at home. Plastic is a big problem for our environment. I try to reuse plastic because it takes a long time to dissapear, but I don't use plastic as much as I used to. I try to replace plastic items with cloth or paper ones. I also agree with the idea od buying more reusable containers than plastic.
Recycling is not difficult, it takes a very short time, but it helps the environment in a positive way.
I agree. I think we should recycle and reuse plastic as much as possible. Also, it is important to recycle plastic at home too. We should reduce the use of plastic bags and water bottles by buying the reusable ones instead. That can also have a positive impact on the environment and sea animals.
I totally agree, we need to reduce the amount of plastic in the world and that isn't possible if we are taking in more plastic every day. One of the solutions is recycling, but we could also use some other sources except plastics in every day life, we already have paper bags, we could maybe use glass bottles for milk and refill them, instead of buying new plastic packages of milk every time. Or maybe use paper packages for products that don't need to be wrapped in plastic.
We need to recycle in order to reduce the amount of waste we create and save natural resources like water and energy. By recycling, materials don't need to be produced anew, which means that the need for extracting new raw materials from nature is reduced, thus reducing our negative impact on the environment.
You would have to get rid of most plastic waste it would save money and the environment would be better off. Many people do not know that plastic not only harms animals and the enviroment, but also us humans. Everyone has plastic in their blood.
I agree with this statement. Recycling could be very positive to the earth and its many environments. The start of mass recycling could also help with dying animals such as see turtles. Not only is plastic dangerous but so are the bottle caps on the bottles. We should definitely invest in a recycling bin for our house. Take care of our earth!
I agree that it’s a great idea to reuse plastic water bottles and containers. While recycling is great, depending on your city, not everything you put in the recycling actually gets recycled, in fact, a lot of it ends up in the landfill. So if you can find a way to reuse plastic waste, choose that over recycling.
The destruction of resources and open land is a waste of time for everyone. Why build a giant supercomplex on good farmland when you can build good things, like a farm, or an animal shelter, or a hospital. New buildings that go up these days that are not for good things are all just a waste of space. In further, all of the open spaces that are condemned or not being used for anything should be developed into good things, as mentioned before, like hospitals, animal shelters, and homeless shelters.
You say that the "destruction of resources and open land is a waste" but what exactly are we wasting here? I agree that the destruction of natural habitats are most certainly awful and should be discouraged. But in highly populated urban areas tearing down an old house or other building is not necessarily a waste of space/resources. You mentioned lots of helpful buildings we could build instead of a complex like a hospital or an animal shelter, and don't get my wrong those are wonderful ideas. But if we look more closely at what exactly is needed in developing countries and even fully developed countries that have a poverty/overpopulation issue I feel we could use that space more affectively building affordable housing for struggling families. Or taking it a step further and building eco friendly housing. This is good for the environment and helps with poverty. Saying that what each urban area needs will differ wherever you look; so it could definitely be more useful to build a hospital like you suggested, prime ideas will vary in different communities.
Wealthy countries such as the United States and Canada contribute to climate change much further than poverty-stricken countries do so. This is because of the rapid industrialization, deforestation, and energy overuse that the US and Canada partake in, disrupting the carbon cycle and causing more carbon to be released into the atmosphere. However, although large and wealthy countries's carbon emission are above others, the consequences to their actions have a profound effect on poverty-stricken or poor countries of the world. Countries that are unable to defend themselves against the harsh effects of climate change (unpredictable weather patterns, rising temperatures, loss of wildlife and biodiversity) are the countries that have to pay the price for our privileged negligence. I believe that wealthy countries that evidently put less-fortunate countries in a dangerous situation with the environment should be held accountable, and asked to help people and communities affected by the consequences of their actions.
Wealthy countries such as the United States and Canada contribute to climate change much further than poverty-stricken countries do so. This is because of the rapid industrialization, deforestation, and energy overuse that the US and Canada partake in, disrupting the carbon cycle and causing more carbon to be released into the atmosphere. However, although large and wealthy countries's carbon emission are above others, the consequences to their actions have a profound effect on poverty-stricken or poor countries of the world. Countries that are unable to defend themselves against the harsh effects of climate change (unpredictable weather patterns, rising temperatures, loss of wildlife and biodiversity) are the countries that have to pay the price for our privileged negligence. I believe that wealthy countries that evidently put less-fortunate countries in a dangerous situation with the environment should be held accountable, and asked to help people and communities affected by the consequences of their actions.
I believe that in richer countries (ie. countries that have high GDPs), the wealthy should be held responsible for their impacts on the environment. Where I'm from in the US, the wealthy often live very extravagant lifestyles, flying quite frequently, buying new cars, and using massive amounts of energy with little regard for others, not just in the US but in a larger sense, the world. Despite having the money to purchase more climate-friendly alternatives (which are often quite expensive), they squander their money on trendy brands to help fit in with the other wealthy individuals. I think that because of this the wealthy in richer nations should be taxed an environmental tax to help make up for their large carbon footprints and possibly to make them reflect on their use of resources. They should be assessed by a government official who is sent to their house and notes the appliances they use. The government official should also ask them about their flying habits or how often they leave the lights on, questions that help to create a more accurate reflection of their carbon footprint. They should be placed into tax brackets with those who have higher carbon footprints being taxed more and those who have lower carbon footprints being taxed less. I think that if this were implemented in countries with high GDPs, that the wealthy would start switching their lifestyles to be more eco-friendly to avoid taxing. Additionally, since people often want to emulate the wealthy, if the wealthy began using eco-friendly alternatives to products and trying to reduce their carbon footprints, ordinary people may follow which could cause a large decline in carbon footprints everywhere.
Ever since I was little it would always amaze me how careless people could be; throwing their junk into the ocean. Don't they know there are living creatures living there? But let's be honest we have all made mistakes before this however cannot be an excuse to keep on repeating the same ones. We as of right now must stand up for our oceans. Turtles suffocating on plastic bags and sharks getting trapped in old fishing nets are just not right. Why do we have to be so cruel when they did nothing wrong? Hope is still not lost, we can change. But all it takes is a step, a step that everyone can make, a step that can be so powerful it can change millions of lives underwater. So please next time you feel an urge to throw your trash on the ground, remember the animals you will be hurting, the ecosystem that is slowly declining.
yes i agree with your opinion because when i go surfing i can see a lot of trash and it didn't make me feel good. I can't understand why can't people make an effort to throw trash in the trashcan. I thought that with the new technology we would have better lives in 2023.
I also think that we have to help save our planet through not polluting our precious oceans. We have to live together with our animals and not against them. We can do this through using our trash cans to the best of our abilities. If we do not see any trash cans around, we have to hold onto the trash until we can get rid of it wisely. Another way we can help our oceans is by helping to pick up trash around them. There are many organizations that are focused around helping to clean the ocean and pick up as much trash as possible in a day. One of these organizations is The Ocean Cleanup. This organization is a non-profit that has the main goal of cleaning up to 90% of the oceans floating plastic pollution.
There are many reasons why we should help people in poverty without making the climate crisis worse. Here are a few:
- Moral obligation: We have a moral obligation to help those who are less fortunate than us, especially those who are living in poverty. This obligation is even greater when we consider that the climate crisis is largely caused by the actions of wealthy countries, and that people in poverty are disproportionately affected by its impacts.
- Human rights: Everyone has the right to a decent standard of living, and this includes access to food, water, shelter, healthcare, and education. Climate change is making it more difficult for people in poverty to access these basic necessities. By helping to reduce poverty and address climate change, we can help to ensure that everyone can enjoy their human rights.
In addition to the above reasons, helping people in poverty without making the climate crisis worse can boost economies. Investing in renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, and other sustainable development initiatives can create jobs, boost economic growth, and improve the quality of life for everyone.
Here are some ways to help people in poverty without making the climate crisis worse, according to the World Resources Institute: https://www.wri.org
- Invest in renewable energy and energy efficiency. This will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and create jobs in the clean energy sector.
- Support sustainable agriculture and forestry practices. This will help to reduce deforestation and soil erosion, and improve food security for people in poverty.
- Provide access to clean water and sanitation. This will help to reduce the spread of disease and improve the health of people in poverty.
- Invest in education and healthcare. This will help people in poverty to develop the skills and knowledge they need to improve their lives and adapt to climate change.
- Promote gender equality and women's empowerment. Women are often disproportionately affected by poverty and climate change, so it is important to ensure that they have equal access to resources and opportunities.
Let me know if I missed any ideas so far