Climate Change and Procrastination

Climate Change is the procrastinators worst nightmare

Climate Change has been in the headlines seemingly every day for the past 10 years. Whether it has been through Kyoto protocol, the melting of the polar ice caps, or merely the ban on some hair products whose chemicals destroy the O-zone layer, Climate Change is painted as a significant threat to the globe and should not be taken lightly. Yet, people still refuse to believe global warming is a true threat, and merely brush it off as a problem for future generations. However, as these people sit and wait the issue is merely expanding like a forest fire left unchecked. Governments need to stop “passing the buck” onto future generations, take responsibility and begin to fix this pressing issue.

         A multitude of studies have been completed by highly prestigious and trusted organizations such as the EPA, The United Nations, and even NASA. These studies have conclusively shown that “The concentration of GHGs in the earth’s atmosphere is directly linked to the average global temperature on Earth”, (GHGs being greenhouse gases) and the concentration of these GHGs have been steadily rising since the Industrial revolution, when nations began to burn off fossil fuels for energy. Furthermore, the average temperature has increased by a degree since the early 1900s and the oceans have risen by 19cm while the polar ice caps have shrunk from increasing temperatures every decade since 1970.  According to the United Nations “Given current concentrations and ongoing emissions of greenhouse gases, it is likely that the end of this century will see a 1–2° C increase in global mean temperature above the 1990 level (about 1.5–2.5° C above the pre-industrial level). The world’s oceans will warm and ice melt will continue. Average sea level rise is predicted to be 24–30 cm by 2065 and 40–63 cm by 2100 relative to the reference period of 1986–2005. Most aspects of climate change will persist for many centuries, even if emissions are stopped.” This poses a serious threat to island nations such as Tuvalu and even areas in the United States such as Miami and Manhattan which will be completely underwater if these emissions are not reduced however, governmental leaders still refuse to acknowledge the facts. While agreements such as Kyoto, and Paris are important, as they structure emission reduction goals for all countries there is truly no way to assure or enforce these goals unless leaders within these countries decide to act. 

Climate Change therefore is the “essay that keeps getting postponed.” Akin to the essay in a college course that keeps getting pushed back by the professor in hopes students will spend more time on it, students merely see it as a problem in the far-off future that will eventually get solved. While Climate Change is a looming death sentence on many nations however, developed nations choose to ignore it instead focusing on more apparent issues that will grant them immediate gratification rather than attempting to solve the issue of Climate Change. Climate Change fixes would possibly hurt the economies of these countries which may hurt the political careers of these politicians and often times the people do not see the purpose behind climate sanctions and merely see it as a way to “weaken their country”. 
In conclusion, Climate Change will not be solved until countries are willing to see it as an apparent and immediate issue rather than one in the far-off future that “may affect them.” Countries need to accept the reality of Climate Change and work towards fixing it now instead of when the first island nation goes underwater because, even though the essay may not be due tomorrow, countries will be able to write a much better fix in 20 years than in a year once Miami is reduced to a larger version of Sea World.