Let’s face it. Something has to change in regards to how humans are treating Earth. Our one and only planet, we need to treat it as the most important resource to maintain while also using its resources. Burning Australia, shrinking Antarctica and the North Pole, decimating Amazon Rainforest, all events that need to be slowed and stopped. The Earth is changing, and it’s not for the better. This is not at the fault of the grazing animals of the plains, or the migratory birds of North America, but rather the humans across the globe. We are the true culprits, and only we can be the true solution.
2019 was the second hottest year on record, behind only 2016 (top two hottest years in past 5 years!).The Greenland ice sheet melted by close to 50% of its size over the warmer months. Exceptionally high temperatures also played a role in the horrendous wildfires that are still continuing in Australia. The main cause for these rising temperatures: emissions of greenhouse gases trap heat in the atmosphere and thus causes major changes in the climate. “These are unquestionably alarming signs,” Jean-Noël Thépaut, director of Copernicus Climate Change Services, stated recently.
These above-average warming levels are alarming to officials, but also to citizens. Climate change was listed by 50% of European Union citizens as one of the three biggest challenges their country is facing, as outlined in Zoe Schneeweiss’ Bloomberg article. In the United States, only 39% of people see it as a large challenge, but I expect that number to rise in coming years. Larry Fink, an American billionaire businessman and CEO of BlackRock, wrote his annual letter to America’s corporate executives stating, “Climate change will upend global finance sooner than they might think.” As high-end executives begin to take this mindset, a solution can be passed down to employees and citizens, and real change can be enacted.
BlackRock has been making quite the waves in climate action, especially as the world’s largest investor. Joining the climate action investing pact after criticism from activists, investors, and clients. This investment pact, titled Climate Action 100+, seeks to pressure companies whose activities expedite climate change through the use of its more than $41 trillion.
The Earth is warming, and its rates are alarming, but what is being done about it? Hopefully, as this blog progresses, I hope that more positive results are seen. After all, Time didn’t name Climate crisis activist Greta Thunberg the Person of the Year in 2019 for no reason. Climate change is the most important problem the world faces at this time, and actions have to be taken.
Coleman's blog 