By Tag Quijano
On Sept. 27, 2013, the United Nations approved their Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, known as The Fifth Assessment Report on Climate Change. The report states that, "It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming
since the mid-20th century."
People react to this differently. Some log on to their computers and become activists. Others claim that this statement is propaganda. (In fact, 95 percent of published scientific reports regarding climate change say it is real and is caused by people). Then there is a large third group. These are regular people, who say "So what?" They just don’t have the time to care, because they don’t see the indirect effects on their daily lives.
However, the one thing we as a society have to realize is that people should care about the environment and have a vested interest in it, due to the personal benefits, direct and indirect effects on our futures, as well as our duty as citizens of the world to uphold the rights of the environment.
Upton Sinclair (the author of "The Jungle") said, "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on him not understanding it!" This phenomenon can be used to the environment’s advantage, by making the sustainable option more lucrative and putting money in people’s pockets. Just as much as an arms race prior to a war, people can have a technological innovation race during an impending environmental crisis.
Through technology and innovation we can invent and inspire, while being energy efficient. For example, this article was written on a MacBook Pro sporting a seven-hour battery life. Innovations like this and more, through startups or big businesses, have proven to be profitable. People can also invest in renewable energy and sustainable design. In a nutshell, sustainability is an integral part of 21st century business, and as consumers we can pressure businesses to choose these options, be they paper, plastic, or neither.
We, like animals, are connected to a worldwide ecological cycle directly and indirectly, and our actions affect that cycle, leading to repercussions which in turn affect us. We are experiencing the extinction of species at a rate 1,000 to 10,000 times historic evolutionary levels, according to the World Wildlife Fund: between 0.01 and 0.1 percent of all known species per year.
It is unfair to our descendants to do what past generations have done and fail to practice environmental stewardship. We are at a point where our generation of youth is bearing the results of years of pollution and other problems. Humanity is only seeing the beginning. We must protect the environment to share the nature we have lived in, so that those in the future have the same opportunities and privileges.
We as a society have grown to accept the idea that there are definitive human rights, regardless of an individual’s race, religion, gender or political affiliation. For us to continue to strive for this ideology, we must pose the question, "What about nature’s needs?" Animals and the environment need to be protected just as much as people around the world. Throughout history, crises have united communities, governments and people. The impending ecological crisis should be seen as an opportunity, a life-or-death race for salvation of our race and others. As citizens of the world, dependent upon our fellow human beings, it is time we finally realize we are equally obligated to the creatures and organisms that share the world with us. Enlightened self-interest suggests that for us to protect the rights of our own species, we must protect the inalienable rights of life, old and new.
Be an activist. One way or another, we are charged by our planet to uphold the everlasting legacy of the human race. Will our generation have to apologize to the next, and will the next and the next feel helpless? Let’s use the power of individual action, to recycle our bottles, to carpool and to choose sustainable farming over conventional methods. It doesn’t take much, but it makes a big difference to use 21st century skills and save the earth. It is our duty to uphold the rights of the planet, and to protect everything around us. If we do so, we will also save ourselves. We have to care. It’s our only option.
Tag Quijano is a freshman at Princeton Day School.
