Throughout our lives, there have been many issues to surface in the world but one of the most concerning issues is climate change. The Equinox recently considered the question; Do politicians do enough to combat climate change? We say no.
One major red flag is the recent climate strike, an event where people all around the Keene area gathered to walk to New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen’s office in an attempt to get our government to take more action against climate change. The Equinox believes that if politicians were doing enough, this climate strike wouldn’t have been necessary.
The unfortunate truth is that capitalist interests are getting in the way and certain people seem to be valuing money over protecting our Earth. There are obviously politicians that truly care and are trying to fight this issue but they cannot do much due to certain roadblocks being put up in our government by people trying to pretend this is not an issue.
Due to these roadblocks in our government, it seems that celebrities are doing more than our actual politicians. This includes people like Leonardo Dicaprio who has used his platform over the years to raise awareness for climate change as well as even starting his own foundations to combat the issue.
As presidential candidates continuously bring up climate change in their speeches, it seems that citizens are not doing enough on their end to combat climate change. In America, most individuals own their own cars instead of carpooling. This immediately increases every American’s carbon footprint and directly contributes to climate change.
However, many efforts have been made by citizens and politicians to save the environment. Earlier this year in San Francisco, plastic straws were banned to be used and distributed in the city. Also, it has become a trend now to “ditch the plastic straw” and use the more eco-friendly option of a reusable metal straw.
This shows, however, that there is only so much that citizens can do and that if real change is going to begin happening, it needs to start from the top. That is due to the fact that while citizens cause about 30 percent of the air pollution, big corporations are responsible for 70 percent. If these corporations begin making monetary sacrifices to become greener then we will truly begin to see real change. As citizens, we need to continue our efforts to help the environment because even though we do not make the biggest difference, some change is better than no change.
