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by Emaan Aamir
Can you spot the irony within the title? It refers to the more frequent occurrence of natural disasters, ranging from fatal droughts to unpredictable earthquakes. There is a hugely positive correlation between the way that we live, the lifestyle which we have chosen and the gradual deterioration of our world, through none other than climate change. So, why does the future hold for us more cataclysmic natural phenomenons than we have ever seen before? Well, the answer to that is because of mankind.
Being part of the generation that will endure the consequences of our actions now, I strongly believe that the youthful population of the world must stand strong and simultaneously plead for there to be a change in the traditional ways of life. There is an infinite number of changes we can make to our everyday life to ensure that we as individuals are contributing as little as possible to climate change. For example, you could use bar soap instead of body wash, use recyclable bags instead of plastic ones, reduce the amount of meat in your diet, etc. 2 million plastic bags are used per minute. These bags are a great threat to the alluring, but dying biodiversity in our world. Plastic bags float around in the sea as incognito jellyfish until they find a prey to wrap themselves around. Not only does ocean pollution affect the most headlined animals such as turtles, whales and seals, but it also affects us. Contamination through oil spills destroys food chains as the fish which we eat digest its toxic food: poisoned by oil and several metals such as mercury. Eventually, these fish will end up being digested by and poisoning human bodies.
So the real question is, how can you help? The young people of our world are more knowledgeable and understanding of what is to come because they are the ones living through it. Ranging from school strikes and countless campaigns, youths are really stepping up to make the older generations realize that their mistakes will have traumatizing effects for us. We can be the catalyst that climate action needs. We need to be, and we will be. There are so many inspiring teenagers who have stood up to the political leaders of their countries. Take for example, Greta Thunberg, creator of the climate strike movement “Fridays for Future,” or Jamie Margolin, a climate activist based in Washington, USA. Thunberg started off by skipping school to protest against the Swedish government’s minimal effort to mitigate the effects of climate change. But gradually, she has used social media platforms to further promote “Fridays for Future”, and has inspired many other teenagers to become part of this movement. Margolin has used her persona and identity to build her own perspective on climate change. She has also called out the government for taking limited action to reduce greenhouse emissions.
The primary purpose of these youths fighting for a change is not only to decrease the severity of what is to come, but also to inspire more young people to take a stand against what is happening. As of 2019, the global literacy rate is 86.3%. This statistic goes to show that we are educated, we are knowledgeable, and we have the potential to make a change. No matter how big or small, teenagers all around the world are definitely trying to make a change. However, we must enhance this and carry out our actions on a larger scale. We can use the hundreds of different social media platforms available to us, or make a large scale difference on local communities through our schools or other organizations. Not only this, several school students have started social media initiatives solely dedicated to raising awareness about what the consequences of global warming may be where they live. Out of 6 small but extremely effective actions you can do to reduce your contribution to this catastrophe, the UN lists “Speak Up” as one of them. The encouragement to youths for voicing their thoughts is vast, and we need to be motivated and step up to world leaders. Agencies such as UNICEF have even set up comic and video competitions to encourage teenagers to spread the word. As well as this, they have a very short quiz where anyone under 18 can submit what they have to say to our world leaders. All opinions will be put together to form a declaration called “Children’s Right to a Healthy Environment” which will be handed to world leaders in 2021.
If we have solutions to the problems which we are faced by, why not implement them? We need to act fast and we will. Millions of youths have already risen and more are finding their voice, and confidence. Greta Thunberg herself has said, “The climate crisis has already been solved. We already have the facts and solutions. All we have to do is wake up and change.”
Of her piece, Emaan writes, "It's based on empowering youths to speak their opinion and stand up for their future."
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