by Matt Subjin
Climate change is one of the biggest issues of our lifetime and there is more we can do as a community and as a city to both reduce its impact, and lower our carbon footprint. Liberals are one of the biggest groups that will support my call to action because they want more action to be taken as a community and government to help stop climate change. Nature activists are another group that will support me because less pollution means a more healthy environment. Although our individual actions alone might seem small, our actions as a group can influence others to follow our example. Declaring a state of climate emergency is a great first step towards a healthier community.
Of course there will always be people who disagree with climate activism, and think it’s a waste of time and money. Conservatives believe that climate change is not an important issue and that our budget is better spent elsewhere. Another group in the opposition is fossil fuel reliant industries. They rely on fossil fuels to make money, so they would not be content with any restrictions that would cut their profits.
There are many ways to help fight global warming some of them include encouraging swapping to renewable energy sources because if we can lower our dependence on fossil fuels then we can lower our carbon footprint. We can encourage swapping to electric vehicles to lower pollution. Plant life is an all natural way to reduce the effects of climate change, so protecting our ecosystem is important, not just for the ecosystem, but for the climate as well. We cannot stop our climate from changing for the time being, so we need new strategies to adapt to the changing climate.
There are also many things that we can do as a community to help stop climate change like recycling. You can turn off the lights in rooms you are not in, and take shorter showers. You could also buy solar panels to both lower your electric bills and carbon footprint. There are 2 community council members in particular whose support would be greatly appreciated. Olga Negron is the Chairperson of the Parks and Recreation Committee so her support would also be important. Bryan Callahan is the Chairperson of the Human Resources and Environment Committee so his support would be invaluable.
Matt is a student at Liberty High School.
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