One of the most significant environmental issues in history plagues the world today and is also the one that is discussed the most. This problem is global warming, one of the hottest debates in the present day. However, what is debated is not what it is or why it is happening but how to fix it. The concept seems simple. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council: “Global warming occurs when carbon dioxide (CO2) and other air pollutants collect in the atmosphere and absorb sunlight and solar radiation that have bounced off the Earth’s surface” (MacMillan, 2021). Pollution from factories and human activity causes the planet to heat up, which causes loads of problems. That is what nearly everyone agrees upon when speaking of this issue. However, this issue goes much deeper.
The main topic that is debated is how we should fix this issue. It is common knowledge that in the U.S., people have been fighting over climate change and banning things that cause global warming, such as straws, gas cars, and mass manufacturing items in factories. Many people are fighting over these issues and explain that everyone should first fix the problems I mentioned. However, fixing these problems first will only help to an extent. Getting one problem fixed, such as removing plastic straws because of their pollution in production, only allows a minuscule amount in the grand scheme of things. However, many other factors contribute much more to climate change. According to OurWorldinData: “Plastic production and disposal emits around 3% of global emissions” (Ritchie, 2023). That is for all plastics, and plastics do not only comprise straws. This is compared to transportation, which, according to the EPA, creates 29% of all emissions in the U.S. We are fixing problems that help, but we cannot fix every single problem in the next few years. That is the issue that many debates cover in the present day. So, what should we do?
Look at what (or who) is emitting these laws. Politicians are. Vote for politicians who want to reduce all carbon emissions, not just a part of it, and get those who do not want to leave office. That makes sense, right? In the present day, the main consensus that everyone who has heard of climate change has agreed upon is that it is a matter of lifestyle choice: buy an electric stove or start using reusable items. However, look at the global pandemic, where everyone was inside and not running factories. According to the National Library of Medicine, quarantine at its height decreased emissions by only 17% (Ronaghi & Scorsone, 2023). Lifestyles are not the only thing that needs to be fixed.
Circulating around the internet is the idea that people need to do fewer things that add to global warming and use more reusable items to reduce emissions when reality shows that the more significant long-term laws will help much more than relying on the people. Sure, we can help, but in the end, that is not what we should focus on. Instead, we should create laws that sustain the world using voting power. This voting can develop laws that could help entire nations. Your community living green is lovely but not as nice as the whole nation living green. Being an excellent example of living sustainably is cool, but it only goes so far.
Sources:
MacMillan, A. (2021, April 7). Global Warming 101. NRDC. https://www.nrdc.org/stories/global-warming-101#warming
Ritchie, H. (2023, October 5). How much of global greenhouse gas emissions comes from plastics? Ourworldindata. https://ourworldindata.org/ghg-emissions-plastics#:~:text=Plastic%20production%20and%20disposal%20emits%20around%203%25%20of%20global%20emissions.&text=The%20most%20visible%20environmental%20impact,in%20our%20rivers%20and%20oceans.
Ronaghi, M. and Scorsone, E. (2023, June 13). The Impact of COVID-19 Outbreak on CO2 Emissions in the Ten Countries with the Highest Carbon Dioxide Emissions. National Library of Medicine. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10281825/
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