Climate Change Needs Drastic Action Says Prince Charles

It is climate week and Prince Charles says our only option is to make drastic change. What changes need to be made?

Prince Charles is on a mission to bring forward net zero climate emissions by 2030, 20 years ahead of the currently proposed 2050.

This would bring it forward by 20 years, a massive implication for industry and a seemingly small adjustment for the environment. 

However, is it?

20 years-a long time by our standards but then again; a blip in the ocean when it comes to the entire history of existence.

Prince Charles does not think so however and I tend to agree. When it comes to the environment: it has not been privy to the destruction engulfing its’ pretty little leaves, as it has for the past 260 years. This would be since the beginning of the industrial revolution in 1760.

20 years then is not a blip and perhaps-essential to the resurgence of what has been lost.

240 Years of Billowing Smog

Think about it, billowing clouds of smog that have been accumulating, pushing CO2 limits far past the normal limit, and this has been happening for the past 240 years. Putting change into action, 20 years ahead of time, is nothing then. And change needs to happen.

It is not normal to be creating CO2 (an offspring of Carbon) at the rate we are creating it. CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) is a natural by-product of the world. We breathe in oxygen and CO2, we breathe out CO2. Our lungs are the trees of the earth; for trees have the same process and they are being overburdened by the CO2 we are producing. This must change. However, the common mention of CO2 as an environmental enemy is only one of the threatening four. The threatening four being: of course CO2, but also methane (manure), nitrous oxide and F-gases-which all amount to carbon, and so it is on all four levels we must reach neutrality by 2030.

What Is Polluting the Environment?

Carbon is not only created by the burning of fossil fuels, it is also produced through industry;(which burns fossil fuels on a large scale) who create massive waste in the by-products used. Often, industry dumps waste product into nearby streams and rivers, and the gases emitted from these products make their way into the atmosphere. And then there is agriculture and the methane produced by rearing cows and their manure. Not to mention the forests destroyed, in order to produce grain in which to feed the livestock.

There has to be a balance in the world, and as much as the world may respond to toxins (much as our bodies do), in reference to adaptation; there is only so much it can take. 

Subsequently, we must find the balance, before it finds us. 

And although coronavirus is dominating the news-this is more important. Coronavirus or not, if we do not take action on climate change-we may not have a world to produce a virus.

We Are All Collectively Responsible to Take Control of Our Actions

And so it is everyone’s responsibility on all threatening four levels, to reduce waste, move into sustainable fossil fuel usage, eat organic, and use resources that do not create toxicity in the surrounding environment. That means, looking at the back of your products and really querying if they are good for you or theenvironment. Do they use ingredients that will not break down naturally or take a long-long time to do so? Then, do not use them. Is there anything toxic? 

We need to be using biodegradable matter on all levels. Even bamboo in which clothing can be made out of-is biodegradable. 

Simply using a shop bought laundry detergent is threatening to marine life. And once you know this, it is not excusable to do otherwise. In fact, shop bought laundry detergents are threatening to all life, not purely sea life. They have been found containing ingredients that are thought to be carcinogenic.

When you take time to think about it, everything you do-has an effect upon the environment, for better or worse. 

We are simply not only the custodians of the Earth, we are the inhabitants and whatever happens to her-affects us. And as Poison Ivy told us:

“It’s not nice to fool with Mother Nature”

If You Do Not Believe in Climate Change, What Do You Believe in?

Climate change has been ridiculed, and fobbed off. And yet, if you cannot accept there is vital change and extinction within the world; then you must adhere to your own reality. Science is cause and effect: whatever action is taken-will have a subsequent consequence. When there are landfills spilling into the ocean and people dying of cancer at epic rates-and you still deny the affect of human consumption and abuse: what reality are you living in?

Takeaways, fast fashion, straws, dental floss: these are only a few of the items accumulating by your local waterway. And it does not make sense to do this. Most people would be horrified to realise the result of their actions. I do not think many people would agree  that the Earth is (rightly) a dumping ground. 

The real change that needs to happen is in the attitudes of our fellow inhabitants. We are not here to take and never give back, we are here to aid the world in some way. Much like our health, the world needs maintaining; and we need to change our attitudes before it is too late.