Fight for our Environmental Future

In our last session of the module 'Social Responsibility' we were shown several documentaries. Documentaries that made us aware about a few youth lead social movements that are fighting in order to protect our environment before humanity reaches a point of no return. Before this session, I never knew or realized, that there is so much going on, so many battles being fought, just to protect our environment. Well, I should not get ahead of myself. Let's start by looking at what documentary was all about first and then I'll share my take on's from the session, as always. So, let's get started!

The documentaries that we watched focused on how climate change is an existential threat on our planet. Today, we all are aware of the environmental problems and challenges that we are are facing due to the issue of climate change. More frequent and intense droughts, melting glaciers etc. is directly harming us and wreaking havoc on our livelihoods. In the year 2015, even scientists warned us that we just have12 years to make unprecedented changes to transform every part of our economy and our society, to decarbonize, to get off fossil fuels, to invest in renewable energy and to protect life and human civilization. But what is actually being done to stop all this? Or what has actually been done so far? 

Even though we all as individuals are aware of the issues that our environment is facing, still very less is being done from our part as inhabitants of the planet. If we talk about government and various world organizations, we can proclaim that they are failing to respond to this alarming situation, they are not even acknowledging the problem. They are not doing what's necessary, many countries still have not built and garnered the politics will that we need to protect the environment from many hazards that various industries and activities are causing. And people are dying as a result. 

And if I talk about us, as individuals, we all know where we stand. Even though some are coming together to bring the change and are fighting to protect the environment, the rest of us are informed about this issue but we are not willing to get involved in this change or we don't feel that we hold any power to be heard. And some of us might question that- Is real political change even possible with the power of people alone, particularly by young? Let me tell you that even if three and a half percent of the population mobilizes against these establishments, social change will happen. And we need this social change to happen, we need a radical shift in government policy in order to avert a climate crisis. Now, let's look at some of the movement groups who are fighting daily to preserve this planet.

One of the well known movement is based in U.S. Boston, popularly known as Sunset movement. Their strategy is to stop climate change by working within the system and lobbying politicians into pushing through legislative and economic reform. At the heart of this strategy is the Green New deal- a radical environmental change policy. The deal's goal is to completely transform the U.S. economy by ending its dependency on fossil fuels, investing instead in renewable energy and creative jobs in the process. And now that this movement has now grown into a very large community, they're able to get results where it matter's the most. Another well known movement is the Extinction rebellion movement based in U.K, London. It's members believe that the only route to environmental change is by people's uprising. They work outside the system engaging in bold nonviolent acts of civil disobedience and their strategy is to create headline-grabbing protests. They focus on three main demands. Firstly, they want government to tell the reality. Secondly, to reduce the carbon emissions to net zero by 2025. And lastly, to achieve structural political changes. 

So, as you can see, these determined pressure groups believe change is possible. they're seeking to push urgent environmental action to the top of political agenda. And while watching the documentary you can actually see how these movements by young people are not only joyous and raucous but also serious, determined and resolved. They have become powerful forces to be reckoned with. And guess what? They all are young, belonging to different backgrounds and communities- just like us. 

Apart from these movements we also looked at Malala Yousafzai and Greta Thunberg- how two girls are fighting for different causes and that too a such an young age. And they are being heard, they are contributing in their own way. So, it's high time that even we as inhabitants of this planet, join them and raise our concerns, because the question now is not whether if this is achievable or not, it has just become necessary. So, I hope after reading this you feel the need to join in hands in this fight of protecting our environment. And even if not, these movements are not the only option. There's so much 'you', as an individual can do on your own part to protect the environment. I'll be taking about the steps that you individually can take to prevent further degradation of our environment in my upcoming blogs. 

Stay tuned!

All these images have been sourced from Pinterest.