Update on the World
As you may have noticed, it has been over a year since our last post. Both of us have finished our first year of our undergraduate careers in environmental science, which was rich with new topics that we are so excited to share with you all. But before we dive into those in the coming weeks, we wanted to check in and update you all on what has been going on recently in the world.
In June the Supreme Court restricted the EPA’s ability to give direction on reducing carbon emissions in a 6-3 vote. Because of this, efforts in reducing the impact of CO2 emissions coming from power-plants, factories, and operations across the country have been halted. If you are interested in learning more about this, we have linked an article from NPR here. Mentioned in the article, “The decision was a particularly bad omen for environmentalists. In a very real sense, it seemed to reject any holistic regulatory attempt to deal with climate change.”
We mention this not to make you all feel hopeless, but rather to motivate you to stand up and call for change. As we have seen, we are slowly losing the ability to regulate the contributors to climate change through the government. Because of this, we challenge you to use your voice and speak to your local and state officials about this change, and most importantly to vote with the climate in mind in any and all upcoming elections.
In the meantime, we need to hold one another accountable – remind friends and family to act with the environment in mind in their day to day lives. But even more importantly, it is vital that this also applies to people in positions of social, economic, and political positions of power. Very often we see people who hold societal significance lose track of their impact on our environment. For example, mentioned in an article by The Guardian, celebrities like Kylie Jenner, Drake, Mark Wahlberg, and Kim Kardashian have all been using their private jets for short trips. This may seem insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but Drake’s 18 minute flight from Hamilton, Ontario to Toronto, Ontario was responsible for the emission of 5 tons of CO2. The average annual global emissions of one person is 4 tons of CO2 (The Guardian). Emitting more carbon dioxide than an average person emits in an entire year is an astounding representation of the absence of awareness and concern for our environment, as well as a lack of accountability for this pollution by celebrities and well-known names alike. Because of this, we urge you all to hold these people accountable, but also to motivate them to use their platform for good — to spread the word about the state of our environment and how people can help.
Moving forward, we cannot lose our voices when it comes to advocating for the environment. Do your part, vote, hold others accountable for their actions, and never lose hope about our future. If we work together, we can make a difference one day at a time.
Gabby & Kendall
