Every so often, we're told the world will end. Whether the Mayan's calendar will eventually end, or it's the second coming of Jesus, a year doesn't go by where humanity isn't confronted with an obscure obstacle that eventually becomes comical. The comedy of something so impractical becoming even improbable makes the notion of the world's implosion just... embarrassing. We're taught that no such thing could ever happen, and instead of choosing to wait for doom, we are taught about the advancements and the history of space, time and us. In an ironically depressing way, it may be that these advancements are what lead us to the dusk of humanity.
Since the dawn of humanity, the most important aspect of our survival, of our development as a species, has been education. Without learning, teaching, reciting and reading, we would never have technologically evolved into the space-invading, life-creating, innovating creatures we are today. Schools and university's have been the way forward for every generation, and rightly so, since we are the age where everything is achievable and possible.
But not today. Today, education has taken a back-seat, and fallen off the podium. Education has failed us for the past 40 years. It has jested with lives, and joked about our future. Today, the end of the world is coming, and we're too busy laughing at ourselves to see it
Climate change is the most serious problem our species has ever faced, and is unfortunately an amazing alliteration I didn't come up with. Global warming has been seen as a political debate for too long, it's divided parties and divided hearts. But not for whether to save the planet or not, but whether the weather is actually weathering the planet. Some politicians, especially those in the US, see climate change as a political tool to compromise and morph into negotiations that don't matter. Or they just down-right don't believe it is happening.
But it is. Climate change has taken its toll already, thinning the Arctic and Antarctic's ice, and making 2016 have the hottest months ever recorded. Humanity needs to act fast, to change its gluttonous ways of fuel use of oil poison to stop the inevitable and undeniable devastation it may have caused. Since the start of the century, there has been cause for concern; recycling increases, awareness of change and basic every-day help towards the environment. However, it isn't enough anymore. The government, every government, need to step in and control what is becoming a horrific turn of events. The Kyoto Protocol in 1997 had an amazing concept, except no one kept to their Carbon Dioxide limits. There was no punishment for doing worse and no reward for good since every government is independently run. This isn’t enough; this will end up being the Hail Mary that humanity threw but instead tripped over it's own feet because it had it's shoes on the wrong feet. We need to do better, and we need to do it now.
The other argument that I left out was that the climate change we are experiencing today is merely natural, and can be seen in patterns from millions of years of Earth's history. This is a valid argument, and there is no disproving that a pattern is emerging. and we're just in the wrong place at the wrong time. What matters, however, is that this argument still means the basic end of the world; the end of humanity and the end of our lives. This argument, however, doesn't stop our activism for the environment, but propels it even more. It shows that if this pattern is natural, we need to do everything possible to stop Mother Nature. We need to act more, act fast and act now.
Education is still important, and always will be. But would you rather give the best education for the last days of your great-great-grandchildren, or save the world and leave a legacy for their great-great-grandchildren. This isn't about whether if we should act; climate change has already begun. The question now is, how do we stop it? How do we save the world?
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