Should we sacrifice some of our comforts for the sake of the environment?
"Civilization, which is still improving our houses, is not contributing to the well-being of all people equally". (H.D. Thoreau, Walden)
Nina Karlström - 27.09.2019 @ 16:52
Sacrificing some of our comforts to save the environment
By Felix Wolter, VKS Växjö/Sweden
The environmental change that is happening on our earth is a subject which has been in focus for the entire past year. We all know that it is bad and stopping it to save the world should be our predominant priority, because if we don’t we won’t have anywhere to flee to and the human race will surely face extinction. Global warming is currently the main factor affecting our earth..
What is global warming and how does it work?
The greatest cause of global warming is particles of various substances allowing the light of the sun to enter the atmosphere but not to leave it. This is what we call the greenhouse effect due to it’s similarity to how a greenhouse works. The most commonly associated substance with global warming is carbon dioxide, but it is not the only one. There are also elements such as methane and nitrous oxide which are more or less having the same effect on the environment. What is causing global warming is that some of the light rays are absorbed by the Earth’s surface, but a part of the light bounces partly into space again or is reflected back to the Earth by the ozone layer. How the carbon dioxide and the other elements function is by enhancing or rather copying the properties of the ozone layer by covering it up like a blanket and making it even harder for the light to escape.
Should we sacrifice some of our comforts for the sake of the environment?
The obvious answer would be yes, although the question we all should ask ourselves would be “are we willing to sacrifice comfort for the sake of the environment?.” Words are easily spoken, but actions show real results. We all say that we should sacrifice comfort for the well-being of our earth, but when are we actually putting acts behind our words, and why should we say farewell to our easy and enjoyable way of living when a huge part of the Earth isn’t doing it? We should absolutely try to be more climate friendly for the sake of us all. Climate activists such as Greta Thunberg have inspired thousands and thousands of people to join her movement and help create a future where we can raise our children, however the majority of the Earth’s population is still lacking motivation and reasoning to perform a change. Politicians are people with great power when it comes to changing the society, which makes them beholden of making a change for the environment and our future’s safety.
What can we as individuals do? Will it have an effect?
A big group consists of many individuals and therefore I think that every person’s efforts will help to create a big difference for our future. Every animal, especially cows, createS methane during digestion and need plenty of resources to raise so that we can produce the meat we’re eating almost every day. Thus, what can we do? Eat less meat; you don’t have to stop eating meat but reduce the consumption if you eat meat often. Walk, take the bus or ride a bicycle to reduce the quantity of carbon dioxide you release and scale down your personal climate footprint.
Summary
To sum this article up the two most important points are the following: Change must happen in order to save the Earth from its approaching demise whether we like it or not. We all will have to make a change which the world can benefit from, but a lot of saving the future lies in the hands of our politicians and their will to make a change.
Anders Vannestål - 20.11.2019 @ 21:27
Hi,
I really liked your article as it deals with a very important and current topic in our society. Regarding the research of „Shell Jugendstudie” from 2019, it seems that nowadays the youth are supremely afraid of climate change and environmental pollution. As long as on the highest level of political decision making the agreements are not complete, the young generation is powerless. However, Greta Thungberg is a really inspiring person, as you already said, who can move thousands of people with her determination and willingness at such a young age. She is the example that everyone should follow.
There are many things that we could do in order to reduce our climate footprint as individuals. Apart from the ideas listed above I would also recommend decreasing the usage of the packaging materials, buying less clothes, using reusable things etc. So it is not true that individually we can do nothing, because we can. Everyone can. We must stand together for a clean and livable future and environment.
Ágnes Dancs - 16.12.2019 @ 20:00
Hello,
At first, I wanted to say that your article was amazing to read. I agree with the points you made. I feel like almost everyone acknowledges climate change, but when it comes to real life actions, the number of people who do something is very little. People think that there are many other's who will do that instead of them. I believe that if the society is ready to start helping the environment it will get better. Just think of what would happen when one person decides not to buy plastic at all and over the time more people start to share this lifestyle. Commercial stores that only have products made out of or wrapped in plastic will see the need to change it to better products. Meanwhile, other companies, that already focus on that can rise. We need to show the big companies and the government that we want to help the environment. If we do that, we have a chance. No one is useless.
The human is fairly adjustable, but many animals and plants are not, so in order to help them we need to "sacrifice" these little changes like eating less meat or not travelling by plane that much. And I think that we can do that, we just have to want it.
Laura
Laura Eichmüller - 01.01.2020 @ 19:35
Hello Felix.
At first I have to say that your article is very well written and looks really professional. Good job! It’s very important to share knowledge about environmental problems, that’s why your article also has a huge social meaning. I learned a lot while reading it. I had a reflection on this topic last time. Because now we have “post - Christmas” time, you can observe plenty of Christmas trees which are disposed of by supermarkets. They bought too many of them and now the trees which had grown for some years just to stand for few weeks in a shop are thrown away. And they’re usually packed in a special mesh or foil which decompose really long. I think this situation shows the problem mentioned in
the topic of this discussion – even in such simple things we can't sacrifice our comfort (in this case desire for profit) to save the environment. I agree with you, Ágnes and Laura – you all said that our actions (as individuals) have a great meaning. In my opinion that’s the most important thing. People have to know that our future and the condition of our environment depend on us.
Pola Palonek - 06.01.2020 @ 22:59