Tackling climate change is a difficult problem. The obstacles are already present in the first step to a solution: convincing people that there is a problem at all. This is complicated by the specific characteristics of the ever-increasing climate changes. The extreme and most feared consequences only manifest themselves when it is already too late. Today we do not see this, so we are not obliged to do anything about it.
When there is war, you as a population can choose between two options: live on as usual and meanwhile be plagued by violence OR look for solutions and offer help so that you have to adjust your lifestyle and work towards a better situation. If you did the first, you would be hit terribly hard right away, so this option is not an option. The direct consequences (changes) that come with this lifestyle and therefore this life as a whole, are worse than the life in which you adjust (change) your lifestyle, but are not exposed to violence forever.
The big problem is that the climate does not create this dichotomy identically. When you maintain your lifestyle, you will not be directly affected and your life will continue to look the same for the time being. Changing, on the other hand, requires a number of sacrifices. Just like in a war, this will eventually lead to solutions and a better situation.
In the present, the first option (doing nothing) seems to be more pleasant in the case of climate change, unlike when we are dealing with a problem that directly attacks our lives and where our lifestyle will change from the very beginning of the problem. But the serious consequences of climate change are coming, we cannot escape from another life and lifestyle.
The question is whether we are strong and responsible enough to opt for thoughtful and structural changes in the world today or whether we will inevitably and necessarily live in a world with extreme and terrible changes tomorrow.
We must tackle this problem and break through the mechanism that transforms distance (in time and place) into indifference. Together.
I call on politicians to take their responsibility and not to dismiss young people, who see the problem, as silly adolescents. Hopefully you know that such statements mainly say something about yourself and how you tell yourself false assumptions. Science is not on your side.
A special mention of Greta Thunberg is also important to me. Because she is struggling for a bright future and, against the flow of some cynical adults, she continues. Because despite personal difficulties / attacks and climate-related denial problems, she maintains courage and gives a voice to a group that is not normally listened to. Thank you so much Greta.
United Nations. (2019, September 23). Greta Thunberg (Young Climate Activist) at the Climate Action Summit 2019 – Official Video. Consulted on 23 October 2019 via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9KxE4Kv9A8.
The Idealist 