 "Photo: Anthony Salinas / The Pan American")
Last week, the report “Climate Change in the American Mind,” published by Yale University and George Mason University showed that the Americans’ concern about climate change has dropped. From 2008 to this year, the belief that climate change is happening decreased from 71 to 57 percent of Americans polled.
This only goes to suggest that some people care about topics like climate change (once called global warming) mainly because it’s trendy and not because of a true interest in changing the current environmental issues. Or maybe that the media set the agenda for what we think about.
When the popularity of Al Gore’s film “An Inconvenient Truth” was at its peak, I was talking to one of my friends who thought that the politician was exaggerating. On another occasion, while having lunch with an acquaintance and talking about cars, trucks and gas, I mentioned that a small car may be more convenient both because one would spend less money on fuel, and because its emissions would be less harmful to the environment (not to say that I know a whole lot about automobiles). To which he responded: “Do you really think the environment is actually in danger?” He concluded that if he had the money, he had the right to buy himself any kind of car he desired. Well, I was left speechless.
Of course, it’s a personal choice to “believe” in global warming and it’s up to each individual to put beliefs into action to prevent the worsening of the climate situation. But isn’t it easier to take warming as fact rather than ignore it and then have to face the consequences later on? Yes, there is something to the argument that most warming is part of a natural earth cycle, as the globe cools off and warms up periodically. But what if human impact is making it worse?
On the other hand, who am I to judge when my actions to prevent global warming don’t go further than collecting empty bottles of the water I consume daily and throwing them in the recycling bin? So I try to commute on foot when a destination is nearby, which usually doesn’t get me very far. I am definitely far from being an environmentalist, but the belief that something’s better than nothing is what takes me, and most people, through the days.
Everyone, including myself, looks good going “green” and wearing a T-shirt with the recycling sign on it. But how many of us are actually willing to take action and attempt to reduce green-house emissions by simple things that can be done daily? And where are all the people involved in bigger movements to make an impact, convincing as many as possible to change their behavior so we can move forward to a “greener” planet.
We all know how to protect the environment; the methods are nothing new to anyone. Maybe all it takes is that we actually believe, or admit, that we are, in fact, harming the planet. Although we might not be able to go back in time, we can always do something to make the future better, way better than it may be if we don’t get past the denial.
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