I'm really glad that we as a society have moved Environmentalism out of the fringes of society and into the spotlight. To even slightly suggest climate change is not a real and prevalent issue in our world today brings a swift bout of criticism, especially if such comments are made online. According to the Sustainable Packaging Coalition, 94 percent of Americans have some sort of access to some sort of a recycling program (43% having access to both curbside collection as well as drop-off services).

Societal change often happens in waves, and now that recycling has become standard practice in many American households, we've moved onto more preventative measures. For instance, plastic straws have become the focus of this new wave of environmentalism. For context, piece-by-piece, plastic straws make up for four percent of plastic trash. In terms of weight, straws are so light they account for only 2,000 tons of the nearly 9 million tons of trash floating in our oceans. That's certainly not an attempt to downplay the effect of plastic straws and other small items. As I'm sure many of us are aware, said items can be especially dangerous to fish, birds and sea turtles who can easily ingest them.

Reusable metal straws have become incredibly popular and many cities have already passed or drafted legislature that bans the use of plastic straws entirely. It's been really empowering to see people advocating for change within their cities and communities to help fight climate change on an individualistic level. There is, however, a more pertinent threat at hand that I worry, if not addressed soon, could make all of our current efforts obsolete.

Nearly a year ago, in June of 2017, a report came out from the CDP Worldwide partnered with the Climate Accountability Group which stated 100 companies are responsible for 71% of the world's CO2 emissions. Exxon Mobil, and American-owned company, ranks ninth on the list. Those 100 companies combined have emitted 923 billion tons of C02 pollutants. According to the study, more greenhouse gases have been let off into the atmosphere in the past 30 years than the previous 150.

If we go through and categorize these companies, there's some trends that we find within that I think are worth discussing. Companies such as ExxonMobil, Shell BP and Chevron are all investor-owned and produce some of the largest quantities of global emissions. There's obviously a barrier between short-term profit seeking and long-term commitment to sustainability. According to the report, these publicly-owned companies account for a fifth of global industrial greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, the largest emitters across the board often come from country-owned energy sources. China's coal production accounts for 14.32% of all industrial greenhouse gas emissions.

But what are we, as individual citizens, to do about an issue that's remained in the shadows and out-of-reach for so long? Investor-owned companies respond to profits, so fighting with our wallets is definitely a start. Many companies have committed to 100% renewable energy under the RE100 initiative, including Volvo who committed to making their cars either electric or hybrid by 2019.

Looking at the issue from an international perspective, the focus should be electing representatives and government officials who recognize climate change as a pressing issue and support an infrastructure shift to renewable energy. We cannot trust our current administration to fight for a more sustainable future, especially considering the country's withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement. However, I'm optimistic that by applying the same pressure we gave to individual citizens, elected government officials will begin thinking towards long-term sustainability as opposed to short-term gains.