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 >
Climate change, When will this train stop?
I feel like our consumer based society contributes greatly to climate change. that had been the case since forever. I find it strange though that those with the most power to solve our crisis chose not to. Of course, I am very privileged and I'm very thankful to have the opportunities in life that others may not have, but there are those who have resources to make a real difference in our fight who are not putting their power to good use. I have thought about it lots and i've already come to terms with the fact that the next 30 years or so are going to be absolutely terrible, with extreme weather and temperatures, rising sea levels, floods and drought, mass extinction and many more. The problem is that I don't want MY kids to have to go through this as well if these 30 years turn into 100 years. I am so thankful for those putting in so much effort and bleeding their hearts out to save our planet but it brings my mood down to know that so many are still keeping this train running, some don't even have a choice due to economic inequality and racist workplaces. It just makes me so pessimistic about our current situation and thankful at the same time for having a chance to make a change. any thoughts?
I agree about your statement on because of how our society was built, it contributes to climate change. But, if you think about it, this type of society was not just built in a century, this mindset was adopted over several millennium, do you think that humans can change what we have had for thousands of years so quickly? This has happened many times before (except for climate change), the poor needed help, but the rich did not give it so the poor revolted. People say to learn about history so we won't repeat it but it's near impossible to not repeat it on a wide scale. A small amount of people are bound to be in power, and when the people who don't have power realizes that the powerful have too much, they revolt and turned the tables, but new people arise and take power again. This is just how humans work, it is our nature, we are not about peace and tranquility but we are about what we are most good at, revolution and inequality. Humans say humans are the smartest living things on the planet, and I have to agree, but we are non the less, animals, we have our ways. I believe, that a revolution will need to happen for climate change to stop, I just hope it will be a peaceful one, but then again, that has never happened before. But maybe, because we are more educated and taught to be openminded, we can finally change and have a peaceful revolution for the good of all living things on this planet. Maybe, this generation will the start the revolution, not just for climate change but for humanity itself, racism and poverty, sexism and homophobia, hopefully, this generation will be the start of ending these things. Or, maybe I'm too optimistic.
this i fell is a tough question because i am not sure if it will ever stop. Right now we are not moving in a very promsing direction. if we keep living the life stile the majorty of people are living this will never stop. the only way we can stop this is by changing our ways by say eating less meat so we can keep or rainforest or using your bike or public transit to get to work. But even if you do every thing you possibly can it will not be enough we need EVERYONES help if we can end this battle with climate change. if that doesn't happen i am sorry but i don't think anything good will happen for our planet.