How ironic — ahead of the 10th anniversary of Climate Week, despite a few reasons for optimism, data suggests accelerating negative momentum. In other words, carbon emissions continue to increase despite known and horrific consequences. Young people are concerned, yet everyone should be.
To illustrate the vast difference in attitudes and perspectives on solutions to the problem, let’s contrast the actions of Gretta Thunberg with that of Jeff Bezos.
Gretta, who is only 16, just sailed across the Atlantic to speak at the UN General Assembly’s Climate Action Summit to urge world leaders of the urgent need to take transformative, coordinated, international action.
Bezos, who runs a company worth ~$900 billion at age 55, refuses to even acknowledge his own employees calls to action to solve the issue. Instead, he’s spending billions of dollars to one day inhabit space, stating: “We humans have to go to space if we are going to have a thriving civilization”.
So what should be the purpose of Climate Week? Is it to inform? Is it to empower? What are tangible, actionable takeaways? Is the climate crisis a matter of morality?
Importantly, while we as individuals are pressed to examine the impact of our own actions, it is critical to know the limited scope in which we operate. Particularly as many of us are simply doing our best to maintain and stay afloat.
As umair haque poignantly states, “Climate change isn’t about your burger, it’s about centuries of 10% of the world growing rich by leaving 90% of the world poor.” Data supports Haque’s supposition — industrialized countries, led by the US, have contributed the most to the cumulative carbon emissions that are forcing the climate to change.
Framed in a different light, since 1988, just 100 companies have contributed to more than 70% of the worlds carbon emissions. Meanwhile, the poorest countries in the world are already being hit by the impacts of climate change today.
Society is complex, however, and the blame game is often a politically challenged affair. Yet it is a fair question to probe — who is responsible for this situation? Who will fund our solutions?
As individuals, particularly those of us who are in a privileged space to do so, the most important step we take is political activation — which doesn’t have to be through traditional mechanisms (e.g. representative government) but can also come in the form of voting with our wallet. We can do this both as consumers and as investors.
Will all of our small micro-actions be enough to save the planet? No. Will our continued collective action force those with the power to create consequential positive change push them to do so? Maybe.
Is earth worth fighting for? Yes.
Stay informed, know what you own, vote on the world you want to see!
