Photo courtesy of Photo by Justin Bautista on Unsplash.
The time is nearing when we will have reached our point of no return on this earth; the global climate crisis has set fire to the world, leaving humanity behind in a trail of embers and ash.
Since the birth of our nation, we’ve imagined new technologies, built vast cities and nurtured new cultures while encouraging economic and political advancement. Yet somewhere along the way, we’ve forgotten where we came from.
There was a time when the earth was green, not suffocated by the smog of industry. Had we taken every opportunity and heeded every warning sign, this all could’ve been avoided.
But the 2016 American presidential elections marked a turning point in our history regarding the deciding factor for climate change. Alongside the election of Donald Trump as president, Americans’ mindsets shifted drastically. This continued to polarize the country into groups of those who are environmentally conscious and those who believed the climate crisis is pure fiction.
If you were to question the logic of people who voted for Trump in the 2016 election, the majority would defend their case, arguing that Trump’s presidency has been an overall help to the economy. We must face the reality of the rising sea levels, melting polar ice caps and the loss of animal species at an alarming rate; yet in popular majority, economic values take favor over the future of humanity.
The fact remains, if climatic temperatures continue to rise at the current rate, environmental changes will soon be irreversible. Crops will wither away, forests will begin to burn and thousands of species will fade into extinction. The human race will crumble unto itself, and the economic status of the United States will have been an irrelevant waste of precious time.
We are now living with the consequences of ignorance and the devastating reality that our world may never find its way back to the place it was before humanity set it ablaze. Forests continue to burn as species die. Sea levels are rising and entire continents beginning to sink. We’ve seen the predictions. We’ve had plans from leading scientists telling us how to fix the mess we’ve created. So where do we go from here?
Finding uncontaminated food and water resources has become a luxury, but it will only sustain our existence for the time being.
Cultivating life on the earth’s soil has become more difficult. Our only sustainable sources of fertile land are dwindling. Time isn’t on our side, and the most we can do is listen to the experts on how we can extend our existence on this earth.
If we can learn anything from our own ignorance, it’s that now is time for a change. Let’s not wait for a solution to appear while we watch the world burn.
