Educating people is one of the most effective ways of going about mitigating the effects of climate change. Is it happening fast enough? No. Is it feasible to educate the world’s people about the hazardous effects that climate change can have on their lives within the time span we have until its “too late”? Surely not. Is it fair that the people who are least able to do something about it are going to get hit the hardest? Absolutely not. Would the world change fast enough even if every person in the world today was educated about climate change and exactly what they could do about it? Maybe, maybe not.
However, these are the circumstances that we must face. Not as a city or a nation, but a world. Humans must help one another to make a better, less climate change threatened planet. Enough talk about who is to blame, what amount of money the government must spend to mitigate and adapt, or why climate change is questionable. None of those things matter.
We cannot think in terms of money or possessions, but rather in terms of human life and a potential for a future for our species. The U.S., like every other country around the world, will suffer losses in GDP and land area to a sizeable extent. But the developing world has much more to lose- human life (Mann & Kump 111).
The most pressing issue in relation to climate change is information sharing. We need to address the lack of knowledge within the human race and begin to adapt to a future known by very few. As mentioned in Leary et al., creating conditions that allow for action to happen is the goal. There exist barriers in this world that need not exist but for the subsistence of useless actors on the stage.
What I see when I read these articles and books is an opportunity for the developed world to lead- I see a new market, I see hope. But I also see the stereotypical American, eating chips that were packaged in China and produced in Mexico, sitting on a couch, watching TV and doing nothing because they know nothing.
This is a topic that EVERYONE has got to care about.
