Climate change
tonnes of palm oil, whereas in 2018, 71 million tonnes were produced globally, much of it produced on land from the deforestation of rainforests in Indonesia, Malaysia and Columbia. Deforestation removes trees that store carbon, meaning there is more carbon released into the atmosphere which enhances the greenhouse effect. So, why do we still buy products like Nutella when we know the consequences it has on our environment? If everyone stopped buying Nutella, there would be no reason to produce it and, consequently, there would be a decrease in the value of palm oil and the rate at which it is produced. But people still eat Nutella because there is no real time link between action and consequence. There is a time and geographic lag between the action and the impact it has on our planet. Lots of education is required to raise awareness of the consequences: media programs should be promoted, especially encouraging the young generation to participate in, or start, a public movement. Labelling of carbon footprint on packaged products must be done to increase everyone’s understanding about carbon emissions and how the consumer can control and adapt their own carbon footprint. During the Glasgow conference hundreds of activists marched outside the conference centre to show that people were not ready to be involved in this crisis that involves losing their health, infrastructure and jobs. However, more needs to be done. Individuals need to take action, both to put pressure on our governments and companies to change their policies and to reduce our own carbon footprint. At the time of writing, a third of Pakistan is underwater, the worst flood in in the country’s history. Pakistan is responsible for less than 1% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, 4 yet it is the eighth most vulnerable nation to the climate crisis. One’s actions have consequences that other people have to deal with. Generation Z have their future tied to the planet and have the most at stake when it comes to the negative effects of climate change. The young generation know that ignoring the issue is not an option. Greta Thunberg, a climate activist, spoke at COP24, ‘ I will be 75 years old in 2078. If I have children, they might spend the day with me and ask me about you, and why you didn't do anything while there was still time to act. You say you love your children, but you are still robbing them of the future .’ 5 Although Greta’s words reached millions of people, we still need more leadership to promote and guide people in the right direction to saving our planet. Clearly, not eating Nutella isn’t enough! But there are many simple actions that people can change t o reduce their impact and carbon footprint. For starters, you should be trying to use public transport, cycling or walking wherever possible. You can cut down on eating meat, such as taking part in Veganuary. Moreover, you can buy second-hand clothes. This is now becoming increasingly more popular amongst young people through apps such as vinted, depop and eBay. 6 Now that you know your actions have consequences, what change are you going to make? Governments and companies need to do everything they can to help us get closer to net-zero. New leadership is required to introduce effective policies that the old leaders were too myopic to implement. But most importantly, we need each individual to change their current behaviours and not wait for someone else to ‘fix it’. After all, the world is just made up of individual people and if we embrace the ‘Power of 1’, we might just save our planet.
4 European Union data; see references. 5 See Greta Thunberg’s speech at COP24. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFkQSGyeCWg. 6 See Goodall 2020: 190-195.
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