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 >
Government needs to take more action
Although individual action is incredibly important, the government can also make a bigger difference by doing things like forest conservation and promoting electric vehicles, along with trying to make reusable energy more accessible.
I agree, that government needs to take action, because they have the biggest chance to change these things that are happening, and in most cases they don't.
I can't say if the government even wants to take action. It is kinda tiring that the government refuses to do anything. It is pretty clear that the U.S. government has a love for oil. It is quite literally a joke how much our government loves oil. We have went to war for oil. For example the war in Iraq. The war in Iraq we literally drew up oil maps of the country and gave it to corporations. We have destablized countless regions through our love of oil. I can't remember the names of some of the countries in Africa we have destablized, but a lot of them wouldn't exist without the U.S. doing what it does. Or these bad countries riddled with corruption are only successful because of us. A good example is Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is one of the most backwards countries in the world and the rulers spend their oil money on cars. Saudi Arabia stones people for going against the government, and they a brutal monarchy who oppress everyone. The U.S. does not care, and we have supplied them with billions and billions of dollars worth of arms. Saudi Arabia has killed thousands of civilians in Yemen and other countries, and are currently embroiled in a mini cold war with Iran. The only reason we supply them guns is because they supply us with a large amount of oil. Without us these atrocities would never had happened and the Saudi Arabian government is actively starting to side with Russia. All of the countless lies from U.S. politicians about creating green energy and never doing it combined the U.S. supporting backwards countries with oil has convinced me that the governemnt just does not care.