Let's Get Serious About Climate Change

I am tired of talking. We need action.

Photo by Arny Mogensen on Unsplash

I don't know about you, but when things get dark or very serious, I have a tendency to get snarky and tell inappropriate jokes. I will try and refrain from doing that while writing this article.

This is the time for action, and we need to be very, very realistic and purposeful when it comes to Climate Change.

I have friends that live in Hawaii, thankfully they are all okay, even the ones that live on Maui, but obviously their hearts are broken.

The death toll is rising. At the time of publication, the death toll stands at 55 people.

Photo courtesy of https://www.mauiinformationguide.com/maui-fire.php

Because of Climate Change, (which is caused by the burning of fossil fuels), they were experiencing below normal rainfall which caused what climatologists call a flash drought. That coupled with the winds from a hurricane hundreds of miles away, caused the conflagration of Lahaina.

We can't sugarcoat this any longer. Fossil fuels directly cause Climate Change, and we need to stop burning them.

It's going to be an arduous task, not because we don't have the technologies to move away from fossil fuels, but because the fossil fuel lobbyists and companies don't want us to change. They're making too much money off our impending doom. I'm not being hyperbolic using the phrase 'impending doom' because if we don't stop, we'll all be dead.

Thoughts and prayers are useless without actions, and for us to send thoughts and prayers to Maui after what they've experienced without drastically cutting the use of fossil fuels worldwide is just a meaningless word salad.

I'm tired of hearing about legislation in the United States and 'working across the aisle'. We each individually have to do something.

Photo by Eelco Böhtlingk on Unsplash

If that means switching to an electric car, then that's what you have to do.

If that means riding public transportation, then that's what you have to do.

If that means getting rid of your gas stove, then that's what you have to do.

If that means not going on that summer cruise on that big cruise ship, because let's face it, those are not helping our oceans, then that's what you have to do.

And to those of you who work in the fossil fuel industry who are not CEOs, there are plenty of jobs you can be retrained in that do not have anything to do with the burning of fossil fuels. There's wind turbine power, there's solar power, there are so many new technologies starting. You need to get away from fossil fuel to start working on those to save yourself, the planet, and your families.

Do not let a minority of greedy people destroy our beautiful planet.

Remember during the pandemic how all the wildlife came back and how clear the sky was?

Remember how nice it was to not have people polluting everything all the time?

We can work towards that as a species, but this time without a pandemic, and for the greater good of the planet.

Photo by Sadman Nafis on Unsplash

Let's get moving. Now.