Apathy

“It’s not that my composting will empty landfills of food waste but my changed mind and heart may influence others. And that could spread and change the world”

-Olga Evans.

After three years at UNC Chapel Hill, countless environmental classes, and conservations with people around me, I have come to the conclusion that our greatest challenge stems from apathy. Apathy causes people to not recycle, inform others of environmental issues, advocate for greater environmental laws, and protest against ecologically immoral policies. Simply, throughout all of human history, individuals and societies have prioritized short term profit over long term health, because they do not value the earth.

However, we cannot continue this tradition, as the earth has reached a tipping point. Increasing intensity and frequency of storms and weather events, raging wildfires, climate change, and mass extinction events have arrived and are here to stay. These events are rampaging across the globe, disproportionately impacting lower income and developing countries.

As Americans it is drilled into our culture to be ruggedly independent, fix our own problems, and be able to pull yourself up from the bootstraps. The environmental movement of the 1960s and 70s heightened the awareness of environmental degradation, spurring numerous high profile legislation, recycling, and love for the earth. Yet, there was a vital flaw.

Large multinational corporations and politicians hypnotized ordinary citizens to believe it was their duty to clean the environment and mitigate degradation through recycling and composting, yet the United States government and large corporations are overwhelmingly responsible for our current climate crisis. Yes, everyone should do their part to be more sustainable in our habits and behavior, and that includes everyone, including businesses and governments.

What are solutions? These are the first steps that should be taken.

1. Cap and Trade: create a pollution permit market where rising prices of pollution per ton force technological innovation and eventually decreasing emission output. This should be applicable to the companies that emit the majority in the worldwide economy.

2. International Environmental Treaties: build off of the Paris accords to build a more stringent, comprehensive agreement that can be enforced and hold countries accountable if provisions are violated.

3. Green Grid and Energy Portfolios: Governments and companies should work together to invest in green infrastructure, and build renewable energy and electrical grids.

But, this doesn’t let individuals off the hook. In order to contribute, everyday people should take steps to transition to plant based diets, reduce flying, ride public transportation and sell personal vehicles if possible, and consider small families.

I do not have all the answers, and I never will, but the conversation must start somewhere.

As always,

He Climbs Mountains