Better Late Than Never – Keeping it Green

With the unfortunate, consecutive disasters happening around the world lately it is not enough to offer prayers, condolences and our immediate relief in times of crisis. With every natural disaster that occurs we are astounded by the damage but we never learn from it. The Earthquakes in Haiti had immeasurable impact on the citizens and had left the world mourning yet how many of us own or are prepared with an earthquake emergency kit? The sense of urgency to take action disappears within a few days. Natural disasters are out of our control but we must still try to limit the impact as much as possible and it certainly be reduced if proper steps are taken to ensure environmental safety. Many damages from landslides and floods can be reduced if not prevented if proper disaster diversion steps are taken when warnings are issued. We need to be more proactive instead of reactive. For example, the 2011 Fukushima earthquake triggered a Tsunami but what worsened it was that a nearby nuclear power plant melt down led to harmful radiation severely impairing citizens in Japan. Knowing it was in an earthquake disaster zone, the community members should have been more cautious with the hazards in their vicinity when constructing the power plant. 

Every year the Earth is hitting record high temperatures that I’m sure we’ve all complained about at some point this year. Fully aware of all the causes we are not stepping up and taking action. We are not awaiting global warming to wipe out the planet; we are watching it happen. The Earth is being destroyed in front of our eyes yet we are still allowing these atrocities to occur. We have all come to believe that climate change is an inevitable catastrophe. So before you were relying on moving to Mars, you need to step out of this mentality. Earth is the only planet we have. We should be putting in our full efforts to make sure it is still habitable. Our collective efforts are able to bring about change if we just stay more informed of our impact on Earth. We can start utilizing our consumer demand power for more environmental friendly methods of transportation, products etc. Mitigate risks before it is too late. We can contact our MP’s and be vocal about what issues matter to us. Utilize our civil right to vote and make sure our interests are reflected in the government’s political decision making. There has been a lot of opposition and uproar over political decisions such as Trudeau’s plan to continue with the Keystone XL pipeline and America’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Change Agreement. But with outrageous protests it has hindered both decisions from proceeding for now. So much so that despite America not being obliged to, many American corporations still aim to meet previous goals set under the Paris Agreement. We may not realize but even our signature on a petition or boycotting an unethical action can accumulate and lessen the impacts of global warming and who knows, may even save a village in Bangladesh from being swallowed by flood waters.