Located in Waubay, South Dakota, the Citizens Climate Lobby (CCL) had their annual conference for the North Wind Region. This region includes Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Nebraska. This was a place for climate activists to come together, have conversations, and listen to speakers. The speakers talked about Geothermal Energy, Copper Mining, Agro Farming and Silvopasture, Carbon Taxing, and so much more.
Read MoreOn October 14 at the Nation Gallery in London, two environmental activists were reported to throw canned soup at Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers. After the scandalous act, both young activists took off their jackets, revealed to be members of the Just Stop Oil organization. They then glued themselves to the wall beneath the painting, and proceeded to give out a speech about environmental awareness.
“What is worth more, art or life? Is it worth more than food? More than justice? Are you more concerned about the protection of a painting or the protection of our planet and people?” said one of the activists, Phoebe Plummer, from London. Accompanied with her was Anna Holland, from Newcastle.
The two activists were arrested shortly after. Fortunately, according to the gallery, the painting was confirmed to remain unharmed, although minor damage was detected on the external frame.
What exactly is Just Stop Oil? And what is its purpose? On their official website, Just Stop Oil claimed to be “a coalition of groups working together to ensure that the government commits to ending all new licenses and consents for the exploration, development and production of fossil fuels in the UK.” This group of environmental activists aimed to put a stop to global warming and prevent the UK government from fossil fuel production. Even though the message they tried to deliver is reasonable and aligns with most environmental activist groups, their way of delivering is usually controversial, which receives negative responses from the public and mass media. Prior to the scandalous soup throwing, the group staged a sit-down protest around London, infuriating drivers and commuters for disrupting traffic during rush hours. Subsequently, the scandalous act at the National Gallery proved to escalate its tactics.
One of the spokespersons of Just Stop Oil, Alex de Koning, spoke with several reporters outside of the National Gallery shortly after the soup throwing incident, “…this is not The X Factor. We are not trying to make friends here, we are trying to make change, and unfortunately this is the way that change happens.”
Additionally, Just Stop Oil publicly claimed to receive funding from Climate Emergency Fund (CEF) – a U.S. network set up in 2019 to fund climate activism. Ironically, CEF turned out to be part-funded by Aileen Getty, a U.S. philanthropist whose grandfather was the founder of Getty Oil petroleum company, J. Paul Getty. Needless to say, it is not always the case that the heirs of these petroleum multimillion dollar fortunes have no intention to overcome the damage caused by their predecessors. CEF is said to financially contribute for numerous environmental activist organizations. Nevertheless, critics fear that the elites might utilize these activist groups for tax evasion or tax-related purposes.
COVID-19 pandemic caused the shut down of the majority of businesses as well as the dramatic decrease of fossil fuels exploitation. Waste-emission was practically ended because hundreds of thousands of factories stopped working, millions of vehicles stopped operating, which helped improve air quality in many places across the planet. Even the carbon emission was dramatically dropped globally. In short, all the measures in an effort to prevent the COVID-19 pandemic have had a positive impact on the climate and the environment within such a short time. But will this pandemic have a positive or negative impact in the long terms?
Short-term positivity, long-term negativity
COVID-19 was, and is, an obvious catastrophe: overflown hospitals, increasing unemployment rate due to economic recession, etc. This pandemic crisis is also a turning point for another upcoming global crisis, which happens slowly but affects deeply. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterrres stated: “Whilst the disease is expected to be temporary, climate change has been a phenomenon for many years, and will remain with us for decades and require constant action.”
Our reaction toward this pandemic will be the precursor for the climate change crisis in the upcoming decades. Efforts in recovering the economy – including economic boost policy, aiding funds, and programs for unemployment – will contribute in the shaping of the future economy and stabilize people’s lives. However, the carbon emission amount will undoubtedly remain on this planet for the next thousands of years to come.
Changes in individual consumerism are not enough
It has been suggested that COVID-19 will be the main catalyst for the shift from consumerism to other concerns regarding climate change. However, quarantine and social distancing even contribute to an increase in consumerism since everyone rushes to grocery stores and stock up necessities. This is an iconic behavior of consumerism – the reason behind climate change.
Changes in individual consumption habits make people think that this is actually a positive sign for the environment. Some thought that after stocking up all the necessities, people might stop buying things uncontrollably. Changes in personal habits, especially in countries that have low consumption per capita, can lead to a lower waste emission. Nevertheless, this could only be a temporary consequence of peer pressures.
To make a better impact on decreasing global waste emission, changes in consumerism should not be limited at a personal scale, it needs to expand to a systemic scale. In China, a 25% decrease of waste emission was not because a person decided not to buy more toilet paper than needed, but because of the shutdown of industrial factories.
COVID-19 is still a catastrophe to climate
1. A declination in temporary waste emission.
According to Trafigura, a Singapore-based multinational commodity trading company, COVID-19 could cause the lowest oil demand in history, approximately 10 million b/d. This would have been good news for global pollution, however, it could signal a catastrophe because no one could guarantee whether the waste emission from oil consumption can still be maintained at such a low rate in the future. After such a long period of lockdown and social distancing, the economy will continue to operate, manufacturers will be recovered, and thus the pollution rate will increase again.
2. A delay in shifting from traditional energy sources to renewable energy.
The Economic recession due to COVID-19 has delayed the shift from traditional energy sources to renewable sources. Lockdown caused the markets and companies to close, which made some companies unable to maintain their budget for renewable energy projects such as solar panels and wind turbine installation.
Suggestions for new projects have also been pushed back due to the discontinuation of the global supply chain (the majority of solar panels and wind turbines are produced in China). Bloomberg NEF, a strategic research provider covering global commodity markets and disruptive technologies driving the transition to a low-carbon economy, has lowered their expectations for the year 2020 in regards to the solar energy and electric vehicles market, indicating a deferral in the process of renewable energy shifting from traditional energy sources.
Sustainability can be defined as the balance between environment, equity and economy. In the context of the 21st century, it means providing for the present generation without compromising the ability of the future generations to survive and meet their needs. Sustainability Day was created to remind the community of the importance of caring for the environment and the steps to do so. This day is celebrated every year on the last Wednesday of October. So, with the current state the world is in right now, I wanted to make a list of some things we could do to make our lives more sustainable and take a small step towards saving our environment. Because, as Robert Swan had said, “The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone will save it.”
Read MoreAccording to Vegan News, over 9 million people identify as vegan or plant-based in the United States and that number is only increasing. In the past year alone, there has been more than a 300% increase in the amount of people that are vegan in America. As astonishing as those numbers are, the reasons why are even more so. From health benefits to environmental reasons, going vegan is trending, and will continue to do so for years to come.
The most common questions asked by non-vegans to vegans is why? Why change my entire lifestyle in order to avoid things I’ve been eating my whole life?
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