Climate change: Is Generation Z doing anything to save their future?
Climate change. Flooding cities, burning forests, and damaged oceans, these are the thoughts most people associate with climate change. And honestly, there’s no reason to blame them for thinking this way.
As many of you may know, January 2nd, 2020 marks the day that Australia began facing some of the most severe bush fires on record, the season was unprecedented with record-breaking temperatures. These fires were responsible for the death of 34 people, the destruction of 6000 homes and 50 million acres of land went up in flames. These disastrous bush fires opened up the eyes for many people and showed the true power of what climate change has in store for us.
According to studies done by the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, climate change was directly linked to these devastating Australian fires and the extremely dangerous conditions that resulted in the widespread of the fires were 30% more likely than in a world without climate change or global warming.
As Geert Jan van Oldenborgh, lead author of the study, referred to the aforementioned 30% figure he said: “We’re very sure that is a definite number we can scientifically defend,” he continued, “We think it is much larger than that, but we can’t prove that until we find out why there is this discrepancy between the observations and the climate models.”
The Problem
During the industrial revolution, the world began to see a drastic spike in carbon dioxide levels, the world began breaking carbon dioxide levels like never seen before, and we haven’t stopped since. Many scientists have strong reasons to believe human activity is the primary reason for the sky-rocketing of these CO2 levels.
To power our homes, airplanes, factories, and cars, humans have been burning excessive amounts of fossil fuels such as oil and coal, releasing CO2 into the air. To make matters worse, we’re releasing methane into the air as we continue to consume high amounts of meat. The combination of all these gases floating around in the atmosphere and sunlight coming in, heat becomes trapped, leading to the planet becoming warmer.
However, the problem isn’t that the earth is getting hotter, it’s the speed at which it is. According to the UN, as of right now, the world is one degree hotter than pre-industrial times, which doesn’t cause problems, in fact, the UN even says that becoming 2 degrees warmer would most likely still be fine. Unfortunately, it is predicted that within the next ten years we will surpass the 1.5-degree mark, meaning we can easily reach over 2 degrees in our generation, and this could lead to utter catastrophe.
Indian Ocean Dipole
As I mentioned earlier, January of 2020 was a difficult time for many residents in Australia as the catastrophic fire began to surface. Although there are numerous factors that prove the link between climate change and the intensity of these fires, one of the most prominent is the Indian Ocean Dipole. Because while Australia was burning in flames, East Africa was drowning in water. And this is due to the Indian Ocean Dipole, known as the IOD.
The IOD is a temperature gradient that affects the water in the Indian Ocean, stretching from East Africa to the edge of Australia. For numerous decades, meteorologists have been tracking and measuring the temperature shifts in the IOD, and they exist in three phases, positive, negative, and neutral.
When the IOD is positive, the winds come in from the east, shifting the warm water towards east Africa, which leads to flooding there and drought in Australia, explaining one of the reasons for the bushfires intensities. Usually, the process of shifting water temperatures is normal, however, in 2019, the water temperature difference between Africa and Australia was unusually high at a staggering 2 degrees difference.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report, due to global temperatures getting rise and the earth heating up, we can expect to see more frequent positive IODs. Meaning, scorching destructive fires burning down homes and disastrous violent floods washing out shelters could become the new normal.
Gen Z enters the picture
Luckily for us, we’ve got something quite powerful on our side to help fight against climate change, Generation Z.
Numerous studies done by Yale have shown Gen Z greatly fears for climate change in their future, however, they aren’t planning to sit around and see what happens, instead, they’re creating change. Unlike baby boomers of the past, Gen Z is here to stand up for what’s wrong and actively make a difference.
Although, the majority of the climate change issue is rooted in baby boomers and millennials of past generations, the responsibility of fixing this problem has been placed entirely in Generation Z’s hands. And so far, they haven’t been letting the world down. Young kids such as Greta Thunberg, Isra Hirsi, and Helena Gualinga all belong to Generation Z and are all popular climate change activists.
Since these GenZers have stepped up and taken the immense responsibility of bringing awareness to the ever-growing issue of climate change, studies done by WGSN in 2019 have shown, 84% of GenZers said they would be willing to spend more on sustainable products and, 95% claimed they were willing to change their habits and lifestyle to combat global warming.
After Gen Z has stepped up, 7.6M people gathered and rallied at protests or strikes for climate change, in 2019 alone. In September of last year, millions of people around the world protested at the “Global Climate Strike” in New York. This strike gained the support of over 2000 scientists from 40 different countries and, more than 250,000 protesters gathered together due to the leadership efforts of Gen Z. However, that was just the beginning of what eventually became an international fight for our future.
Additionally, the “The State of Consumer Spending: Gen Z Shoppers Demand Sustainable Retail” survey showed that 74% of Gen Z are willing to pay more for sustainable products in comparison to only 68% of millennials and 42% of baby boomers. This already shows us that Gen Z is willing to do whatever it takes to save their future from global warming.
But if that wasn’t enough, due to events being held such as a sit-in on steps of the DNC national headquarters in June and a gathering of activists outside of Detroit Fox’s Theater in July, many people believe these protests that are powered by Gen Z’s passion could end up forcing politicians and leaders to take action with climate change.
How can you help?
Gen Z has shown the world the power they hold when it comes to climate change, they’re actively taking action to fix their future, but that shouldn’t stop you from helping them.
Whether you’re part of Gen Z or not, you have a voice, USE IT! Speak up, attend protests, spread awareness. Every action you take can help towards slowing down global warming. Gen Z clearly has realized this, you should too. Visit this link to find more ways you can help.
Take action now.
Sources
- Ostrander, Madeline. “In 2020, Millennials and Generation Z Could Force Politicians to Deal With Climate Change.” The Nation, 23 Aug. 2019, www.thenation.com/article/archive/climate-change-youth-public-opinion-election-2020/.
- 01/20/2020, Dan Berthiaume -. “Survey: Generations Differ on Importance of Sustainability.” Chain Store Age, chainstoreage.com/survey-generations-differ-importance-sustainability.
- Woodward, Aylin. “Millennials and Gen Z Are Finally Gaining Ground in the Climate Battle — Here Are the Signs They’re Winning.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 27 Apr. 2019, www.businessinsider.com/signs-millennials-gen-z-turning-tide-climate-change-2019-4#the-fight-against-the-keystone-xl-pipeline-in-2018-was-another-notable-example-mckibben-said-13.
- Insight, Consumer. “Gen Z: Climate Engagement.” Https://Www.naumd.com/, WGSN, 2019, www.naumd.com/assets/ArticleImages/Gen_Z_Climate_Engagement.pdf
- The Manomet Team. “The ‘Climate Change Generation’ Looks to Their Future.” Manomet, 25 Feb. 2020, www.manomet.org/publication/the-climate-change-generation-looks-to-their-future/.
- Funk, Cary, and Alec Tyson. “Millennial and Gen Z Republicans Stand out from Their Elders on Climate and Energy Issues.” Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, 28 June 2020, www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/06/24/millennial-and-gen-z-republicans-stand-out-from-their-elders-on-climate-and-energy-issues/.
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Edited by Rena Watanabe, Director of Research Bloggers
