Do you ever ask yourself ‘Why’?
Why did I buy clothes, although I have enough clothes?
Why do I use a car, while public transport is way more environmental friendly?
Why do I buy products in useless plastic packages?
Why do I use the free plastic bags at the supermarket for my groceries, although I can easily bring a shopping bag from home to bring the grocery to my house?
Why exactly do I go on vacation to a far-away destination, although there are so many wonderful destinations to explore closer to my city?
Why exactly do I buy these tropical produce, while I know the transportation process pollutes the environment greatly? I do know that locally produced produce is delicious, so why eat these produce that is being flown in from abroad?
Is a rose from Ecuador really necessary on Valentine’s Day or is a nice bouquet from my own country just as good?
Do you ask yourself why?
You should ask yourself why. You should always stay critical. By asking yourself critical questions about ‘normal’ things, you will learn to not follow usual behaviour, but instead follow your own path.
You should always question the normative. Human beings are like sheep. We like to follow the crowd. It makes us calm and relax. We don’t have to think of every step when we just follow others.
The direction that humanity is currently going for (or is running towards, to better reflect on the pace in which we destroy our environment), is the one of climate change. Change can be good, but the current changing of the climate on a global level will cause huge effects; effects that are irreversible.
The effects of global climate change are, on a local level, for example:
- Continuing desertification, not only around the Sahara desert in Africa, but also in, for example Northern China and Mongolia.
- Rising sea level, directly threatening the disappearance of many islands in the Pacific and Caribbean Sea. But also large parts of the United States, for example Miami, or European countries as The Netherlands are under threat of a rising sea level.
- A small change in temperature has severe effects on the liveability of certain parts of the world.
- Famines, due to failures of harvests in many parts of the world.
- Continue draught in many parts of the world, resulting in the failure of harvests and shortages in drinking water.
- Etcetera, etcetera.
The effects are numerous. Climate change has an effect on the living conditions of all or us. We are citizens of the world! We carry responsibility.
I am sure there are examples of effects of climate change on a local level. If you know one, please feel free to share these with the world.
What is your contribution to climate change?
Climate change is something that plays on a global scale. It is a devastating effect of our collective behaviour, mainly caused by our intense consumption pattern.
Therefor we should have a critical perspective on our personal, individual behaviour that might be stimulated by a collective mind-set that is thought of as ‘normal’. Is it actually ‘normal’?
Is it normal to fly to the other side of the world? Is it normal to buy products that are produced on another continent? Is it necessary to eat products that are grown on a completely different continent? Is it acceptable that we import agricultural products from an African country, while those countries don’t have enough food themselves and a shortage of drinking water?
Do we normalize our behaviour while we should be questioning it?
What is our personal contribution to climate change? Should we perhaps try to change our own behaviour before questioning others?
To what extent are older generations causing the climate change that appears in the world of our generation and future generations? Is this acceptable?
We are a new generation!
We are a new generation. We should run the world the way that is good for the future of our generation. We should take matters into our own hand. If we don’t pursue this, our living environment will be destroyed by the generations before us.
It is evident. We can see it with our own eyes. We can experience is, feel it, hear it. The world is changing rapidly, but changes and policies are implemented very slowly. The biggest polluters are continuing their bad behaviour, supported by governments and presidents.
The countries that are the biggest polluters are simply denying the effects of climate change, although it happens under their own eyes. Are they blind? Are they stupid?
Perhaps they are. Therefor our generation should be critical. If change is needed, we cannot expect it from the generations before us. We should bring change. The Paris Agreement is prove of the fact that older generations have screwed up and are continuing to screw up our living environment. Yes, the Paris Agreement has been signed by pretty much all countries in the world, but change goes too slow and matters are too soft. Even more striking is the fact that the United States, which is the biggest polluter in the world, is pulling out of the Paris Agreement for the simple reason that it limits their economic profits. Instead of supporting the Paris Agreement and putting an effort into changing our behaviour, the United States decided to deny that climate change actually exists, while parts of the United States are flooded regularly or are under threat of climate change.
Have they gone completely insane? That is for you to decide, but please share you opinion on the matter. We are all citizens of the world, but clearly have different points of views.
Where do you live and what is your opinion on climate change efforts and the Paris Agreement?
Ask why!
I would like to stimulate you to stay critical. Keep on asking why. Continue asking yourself why you do certain things.
If we loose our critical perspective, human being will simply follow each other like a herd of sheep and fall into devastation.
Which questions do you ask yourself? Why do you ask yourself these questions? What is your answer or solution to these questions?