President-elect Donald Trump has made it clear he supports expanding the fossil fuel industry and will pull the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement once again. This will be catastrophic for a climate that’s already suffering.
On Nov. 6, we experienced an 80-degree day. The climate crisis is not a “future problem” — it’s a now problem. Generation Z didn’t cause this, but we’re the ones who must band together to fix it. Here’s what you can do to have an immediate impact.
1) Write, call or visit your local officials. Let them know clean energy actually costs less — trillions of dollars less — than fossil fuel investments. Prove it by citing Cell Press’ paper “Empirically grounded technology forecasts and the energy transition.” Write a short message to your representative. It takes two minutes.
2) Eliminate red meat from your diet. This is the single most effective way to minimize your carbon footprint. While the idea of an individual’s “carbon footprint” is largely a myth invented by Big Oil, it’s also true the meat industry is one of the main contributors to climate change through methane release and deforestation.
3) Protest. Stand outside your representative’s office. Be loud and be peaceful. Invite your friends.
4) Take public transportation. Philly sports fans, there’s a subway system directly to all four major sports stadiums. Beyond avoiding traffic and saving money on gas, public transportation saves around “37 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually,” according to the Bay Area Transport Authority.
5) Communicate. Tell everyone you know that Earth is heating up faster than ever before. Share these steps with them. Encourage them to use their voice, too.
Now is not the time to be silent. Get angry and stay angry. As The Clash once sang: “Anger can be power. Do you know that you can use it?”
One day, we can have those crisp October afternoons at the orchard again. White Christmas won’t have to be a dream anymore. The heat being on in Bellarmine could finally make seasonal sense. But it has to start with us. Right now.
