At this point, have have the resources available and the minds willing to create innovative solutions that can help solve some of the problems we've created (sustainable batteries, renewable energy, universal access to food and water, etc), but a lot of people are living extremely wasteful lifestyles and don't consider climate change to be a drastic problem in their lives and don't worry about it. In fact a study released by the University of Utah and Stanford showed that 62% of American adults aren't worried about climate change, even of they acknowledge it's happening. This mindset needs to change immediately, because if people don't think it's a pressing issue, they're unlikely to do anything. The best place to start will be through educating people about the basic facts of climate change and its effects so they can fully understand the problems we're facing. Thanks to the internet and today's technology, reaching huge numbers of people isn't hard and usually doesn't cost much. Once people get basic information, we can start to change how people are thinking in their  everyday lives. We can encourage people to be less wasteful with their purchases, try to use public transportation whenever possible, and think about ways they can change their homes, schools, or places of work to be more sustainable. If we change the way people think about consuming goods, buying food, or even driving to the grocery store in terms of how it affects the planet we can create a society that is more willing and ready to take action.

I completely agree, Olivia. We all CAN make a change, we all just need to care enough and think about making the change in our daily lives. We need to get past the stage of having ideas and acknowledging that environmental issues do exist. We all have a lot of good ideas to help sustainability, but it is time to actually do those things to help the environment. Thank you for this comment. I thought it was very informative and brought a new perspective to the conversation.

I agree with what both of you said and here is a link that I read and found interesting and helpful
http://cotap.org/reduce-carbon-footprint/

Also here's the article about climate change polls http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/ … rming.html

This is all true Olivia! If you know better, than you will do better. The first step in changing mindsets is to become informed and completely aware or the problem or situation that we are facing. We can then begin to make changes to better our community and create a better environment for our generation and the generations to come after us.

I agree that we need to change our mindsets, but we really need to go even further. We don't have anytime to lose anymore. If we don't stop now the already terrible environmental problems will get even worse. More ice caps melting, more animals going extinct, more poverty, more pollution, more habitats destroyed. We need more regulations and greater ones right now. It's not just about changing our mindsets, though that is the first step, we should've had that first step a long time ago. People just don't understand how serious the problem is. The water levels will rise about six feet in the next century. Do you know how many people live under six feet above sea level. Millions, maybe even billions of people would become refugees, and as we have seen people don't tend to like accepting refugees. I think our greatest problem is the society we have built. How do you just stop getting in the car to go to school, to work. How do you turn the heater off in the dead of winter? How do you not get on the airplane to go see your relatives with your family. How do you get America t o just not use fossil fuels. It's nearly impossible. Even if we changed our mindsets how long would it take to redesign our society. You can't just go to a car company and say, hey, don't make cars anymore. Even if you sewed them you'd most definitely loose. It's like you procrastinated writing an essay until the minute before class. Humanity may be headed towards an impending doom. This all sounds really terrible, but as you said we need to change our mindsets, and we need to take drastic measures, no matter how hard. We need to do everything we can now, or else.

Elise: I think what you're saying is completely valid, but right now there's not nearly enough public support as there should be and I think if society as a whole tried to change something about the way we lived, it would be a huge step that would really help the fight against climate change. I'm not saying it's a whole solution, but it's going to be essential step in creating a healthy planet for all.

No, yeah it's definitely the first step and I totally agree with you but I thought it was something I could add to pretty well and easily for my comment...and then it got kind of out of hand lol.