In my opinion, the main thing that keeps us from not acting on climate change is the belief that it doesn’t affect us. At least where I live, I’m lucky enough to not have to be constantly moving because a hurricane destroyed my town or a flash flood knocked my house over. While temperatures are steadily increasing as the years go by, they’re never unbearable. Because of this, it is easy to see climate change simply as a story that happens to other people and not to us. If it doesn’t affect us, why does it have to be our problem? This is something many people, including me, have probably all felt at some point. The truth is that global warming must be our problem because eventually, it will be something that majorly concerns every person, and when that time comes, we’ll wonder why the people who have the resources to help aren’t doing anything for us.  

It’s undeniable that it is difficult to get motivated to protect the environment, because the results of our work are so intangible. We never really know where the plastic bottle we recycled goes, and we don’t really know if it made a large difference or not. What keeps me feeling excited and passionate about environmental conservation is the thinking of my friends and family. Remembering that climate change is something that can hurt the people I love always makes me feel more motivated to recycle that plastic bottle and find a different place to shop that isn’t fast fashion. Those aren’t things that stop oil drills or protect wildlife laws, but it’s better than simply doing nothing.  

In climate action, we all have two options. We can accept the looming threat of global warming, or we can all do our part to live out lives that work to keep the earth as clean as we can. Because at the end of the day, if we are all helping the environment as much as possible, isn’t that the most impactful thing we can do for each other? 

Image: Gravy, Davey. “A lake surrounded by trees with mountains in the background photo.” Unsplash, 9 January 2023, https://unsplash.com/photos/a-lake-surrounded-by-trees-with-mountains-in-the-background-7VotVatHM7Q.