OPINION: Climate strike is not a solution but a necessary step


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Demonstrators from the Global Climate Strike march along Mission Street Sept. 20.

I covered the CMU climate strike on Sept. 20. I listened to the speaker drone on about charts and graphs relating to rising global temperatures. I watched small groups speak passionately about the planet to the few interested attendees. And I walked alongside chanting demonstrators in the late September heat.

As the social media comments have pointed out on my coverage story, this movement, like all movements, has its flaws. Climate change is real and it is an imminent issue that needs to be addressed, but I’m not here to argue that.

Regardless of whether or not you believe climate change even exists, our resources are limited and our current rate of consumption, with an increasing population, will not sustain us. The answer to this is not a purge, as one comment proposes, or doing absolutely nothing, as most of the comments suggest, but reducing our dependence on fossil fuels and investing in renewable sources of energy. 

This means implementing policies and regulations. To some, this equates to “anti-American socialism” or giving up our God-given right to use plastic straws. However, in this great nation, we shouldn’t have to fear a slippery slope – so long as we remember our democracy.

Our problems are complicated, and our solutions are even more convoluted. I, like most people, rely on fossil fuels. I indulge in air conditioning, I drive a non-electric car, I use a laptop and phone, I purchase “manufactured fast food” and I do a host of other things that probably aren’t good for the environment. I also recycle, use reusable containers, turn the lights off when I don’t need them and walk everywhere as often as I can.

Very few people are able to fully commit to a cause. 

We make mistakes and we all live messy, complicated lives full of contradictions. This does not mean we should sit idly by when we know our world is becoming more unlivable with every passing day.

I came into the teach-in feeling doubtful, thinking ‘what good will this do?’ Whatever cynicism I carried melted away the moment I spoke to Marie Koper of the Mount Pleasant Citizens’ Climate Lobby. She was a grandmother dedicating her retirement to promote bipartisan investment in clean energy.

“I have the old-fashioned value that we should leave the world better than we found it, not worse,” Koper said. “It was very clear that our environment and climate is in danger. I have grandchildren, and I’ve had the benefit of enjoying a long life on a beautiful planet that’s just right for us and is fascinating and gorgeous. The thought of leaving a threatened planet to my grandchildren just gives me goosebumps.”

It seems to me that a lot of people skipped over that quote when reading my story and going to the comment section to complain about millenials (and others) caring about the planet.

Movements are not perfect, but neither are solutions – and we can all agree that we need a good deal of those. That's what we're here to do: improve.

Activist and Rev. Andrea Ayvazian said it better than I could ever: “If we obsess about looking good instead of doing good, we will get caught in a spiral of ineffective action. Let’s not get side-tracked or defeated because we are trying to be perfect. And so we move ahead, pushing ourselves forward on our growing edge.”

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