Did you ever wonder why our globe is heating up at a rate not seen before in the last two centuries? Well if you are you certainly would not be the first to be wondering what is going on with our planets climate. The main reason the earth has been warming is due to the access of fossil fuels companies such as BP and Exxon Mobile are putting out into the atmosphere. This consisted carbon dioxide air pollution is warming out atmosphere and is killing off thousands of different plant species per year. If we do not learn how to change our ways as a nation and as a global community through the United Nations we will go into a spiraling collapse of disrepair. We as a society and as people need to change these policies once and for all. Here are a few good things we can start off with.
The first thing we should be doing is by holding the fossil fuels and other energy proficient companies into more efficient companies that will greatly diminish the overall carbon dioxide and nitrogen we let out into the air we breath. Holding all forms of industry from oil and natural gas to pharmaceutical companies is an important start to ensure that our communities are safe from pollutants. Studies have shown that more government regulation on big carbon burning companies an corporations have dramatically effect how much the earth warms over a certain period time such as one decade or one century. Humans are the primary cause of the overall warming of the earth. Many critics especially on the people who tend to lean to the right of the political spectrum believe in deregulating all fossil fuel industries and limiting the amount of pollutants just simply won't be enough to out weight the cost of further regulation. Another argument the right tends to make is that regulations in just the United States will not make much of a difference in the actual rates of carbon dioxide output into the atmosphere. It will effect it somewhat but not nearly enough to actually reverse the rates of global warming. Many of the corporate CEO's also do not want to let their profit or the profit that their companies make that go to the employees. Corporate protectionism is a big factor and it usually outweighs the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) on almost all issues. This is because of all the power these fossil fuel industry lobbyists have in congress. Many on both the political left and the right take money from groups like The Koch's and Exxon Mobile and Dow Chemical. The fact that all these companies get monetary contributions and say on laws and regulations that are passed in congress are inevitable. Only the citizens of America can take action a vote in representatives that won't give any money to special interest groups that only care about lining there own pocket books instead of the American people. We need to figure out a way to purposely effect change in our political system.
Students at colleges and universities across the nation need to also be educated on what fossil fuels have been doing to our global climate over the last two centuries in order to create real change. Professors and faculty should put into place a curriculum that will further help students and young adults (The future leaders of our country) know and fully understand the importance of the current changes in our climate. The phrase "knowledge is power" is certainly true and without knowledge we as a society have no power. We must as a society educate young adults at every level of their education on what climate change is and the real facts about how it is changing our lifestyle. This must be done with the straight facts. Biased opinions on either side of the political spectrum need to come out of educating our kids. One must learn why the excess of fossil fuels are hurting the country and the rest of the worlds environmental resources. Educating our kids is probably one of the best ways to change our system of government today. Our young adults that are now enrolled in college will soon be out in the work force and out in the political arena, running for state house seats, senate races, and for congressional cabinet positions. This is why giving kids an educational appreciation for environmental protection is important for our American society to understand. It could literally mean the difference between life and death.Media coverage is also essential to transforming our culture into understanding the importance of a changing climate. The media needs to become a shinning beacon that'll help people change their minds on global warming and climate change. One way to do this is to discuss more of the proposals that have come up from scientists and people from unbiased educational backgrounds to come in and do a study on how much the increase in fossil fuels and carbon dioxide has had on the changing climate. If the two were independent of each other than why do we have so many problems with sky rocketed temperatures and heat indexes that are becoming ridiculously harder and harder to believe by the day. The media has a distinct responsibility to express the viewpoint that 99% of scientists agree on, climate change is not a hoax. There have been countless studies done by colleges and universities, medical companies. non for profit and for profit companies that show the exponential increase in the rate of air pollution and water pollution that has never been seen before in global history. Scientists and experts believe that his is a phenomena that will not go away as long as regulations are not put into place. William D. Cohen from The Nation says that, "The heads of Goldman Sachs and The vice president of the United States at the time Joe Biden both agree that big oil companies, cannot, and must not sell the vast majority of oil reserves they have spent thousands of dollars on finding, digging up, and refining" (William D. Cohen, The Nation). The people in charge used to understand this, why don't they now? There is a big reason for this, and it all revolves around campaign contributions. "If we can't stop contributors influencing elections then we can't stop the growing decay of the Environmental Protection Agency and the actual environment.
Understanding all these facts and having the tools and knowledge to effect change is essential in changing the way this country reacts to crisis in the future. One can never be sure what the future holds but I know that if we don't start cleaning up our act when it comes to our environment we will be at a brink that we cannot come back from. Some believe that the brink has already been reached and that their is nothing to do about it. I think differently however, I think there can and should be something done about this growing problem and we as the future leaders of our country and world will have something to say about this. The educated must have a say in how are world is changing environmentally. We cannot stand by and let our entire planet fall apart while congress sits around idle by and does nothing. We need to make a change and it starts now with the leaders of the future generation.
