After the unveiling of the Climate Clock revealed that we were very close to depleting our carbon budget and needed to quickly act to reduce carbon emissions, I very quickly began to worry that we will eventually have a climate disaster on our hands. The Climate Clock was created by Gan Golan and Andrew Boyd, and the clock deadline is highlighting our descent into a climate emergency that we can’t come back from.
A 2019 climate change report from NASA indicates that global warming continues to increase could result in sea levels rising, droughts, limited water availability, excess precipitation, decreased biodiversity due to species extinction, fires, invasive species, increased deforestation and extreme weather.
According to the Climate Clock website, “To reduce global emissions, we need to rapidly shift our energy systems away from fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy – especially wind and solar.”
Given that we live in a capitalist society that values profit more than our wellbeing, I am not hopeful that any real effort will be made to reduce carbon emissions or transition to using renewable sources of energy.
Many countries around the world are already experiencing the effects of climate change, and I know that things will just get worse for everyone as time goes on. The time that we have to prevent this situation from escalating to the point of climate disaster is limited, and I fear for all of our safety.
I hear everyone talk about their different plans for the future that may include but aren’t limited to; getting married, starting a career, having a family or traveling. However, it doesn’t seem like most people realize that it’s very possible that the reality we have become accustomed to will be completely different in just a few years’ time, and we may not have the opportunity to do all the things we want to.
I think I can speak for everyone when I say that we have all been through way too much, especially in the last year or so, to just have our planet die on us and kill us all along with it. There is no alternate plan if the earth doesn’t end up working out, well, at least not one that I’m privileged enough to know about, so I would prefer that the earth maintains its health.
The idea of people all over the world having limited access to resources, animal and plant life dying off and dealing with extreme weather sounds terrifying. This isn’t the world that I want to exist in or that I want future generations to have to deal with.
The most frustrating thing about this climate emergency is that the people that will be most impacted, should carbon emissions continue to rise, have no real ability to prevent the carbon budget from depleting. Our health and wellbeing are in the hands of the different corrupt governments and corporations around the world that just aim to acquire wealth and power at any cost.
It really makes me feel like everything is hopeless sometimes because I truly have no control over the state of the world or what happens to me and the communities I care about. I truly have no idea if all the work I’m doing to secure the future I want has all been pointless.
I hope that eventually, as time goes on, more people will begin to realize that we are in a crisis and need to make some immediate changes and that governments and corporations will cooperate in our efforts to change once they see they are also at risk.