Our Individual Efforts Can Improve Climate Change

by ANDREA LI

Extreme fire, heavy rain, howling winds: it’s hard to deny that the climate crisis has brought devastating consequences around the world. Yet, large-scale issues like climate change often inflict people with a sense of apathy. They wonder why they should care, or how it affects them first and foremost.

Unfortunately, this sense of apathy has persisted even as the effects of climate change have become apparent in our corner of the world with the heavy storms that have swept through California since last December. With record high wind gusts up to 92 mph recorded atop Loma

Prieta on the week of Mar. 13, 2023, the stark changes in our climate should be more than cause for alarm. It’s been stated again and again, but the weather conditions wracking California need to incite individual change — and soon. Although the association of climate change with global warming might not make the link between the climate crisis and California’s recent storms immediately obvious, climate change also causes climate variability. According to California’s Legislative Analyst Office, key climate hazards include severe wildfires, intense droughts and according to the California Air Resources Board, the area burnt by California wildfires has been increasing since 1950, with five of California’s largest wildfires occurring in 2020.

All of this is to say that the climate crisis is closer than we may believe; the aforementioned natural disasters are only the backdrop to what will happen if we continue to let climate change run rampant. And while a majority of Americans — specifically 63%, according to Pew Research Center — recognize climate change as affecting their local community, this still isn’t enough. According to a survey by the World Economic Forum, 76% of Americans still commute to work in a car, while according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, transportation emissions accounted for 27% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2020. Indeed, large corporations may account for the majority of greenhouse gas emissions, with a study finding that 90 companies made up 63% of the greenhouse gasses emitted between 1751 and 2010. Despite this, we shouldn’t place all of the blame on companies to cast responsibility away from ourselves. After all, we are the consumers driving these companies.

Moreover, in the U.S., total emissions during 2020 were estimated to be around 14.6 tons of carbon dioxide per person — more than double the global average of 6.2 tons, according to the United Nations.

According to the UN, to reach a livable climate, average emissions per person will have to drop to between 2-2.5 tons of carbon dioxide per year by 2030. More than ever, each choice we make has an effect on the world, even if that choice is as small as deciding between taking public transport, walking or driving to school.

Junior Kaavya Baliga, one of the leaders of the Climate Coalition at Menlo, agrees that individual actions make an impact on the environment. “As climate change becomes more of a pressing issue, our efforts are becoming more visible. [...] Whether this is an increase in reusable dining for local restaurants or the recent Go Menlo campaign starting up, the community is starting to notice and starting to act,” Baliga said.

Baliga highlighted the smaller-scale actions one can take to change the climate for the better. “I think I try to emphasize measures of sustainability that aren’t thrown around as much in our community because people will actually feel like they are making a difference, but don’t have to change their lives to an extreme extent,” Baliga said. According to Baliga, these include upcycling hand me downs or making vegan dishes more often.

With so much news reporting on the large-scale effects of climate change on our world, it’s easy to feel hopeless and lost on what to do. The most important thing is to remember that no matter how insignificant, every action you take matters. The UN suggests 10 actions here you can take to prevent climate change, including eating more vegetables or wasting less food. In the words of Secretary-General António Guterres at the 2019 Climate Action Summit, “the climate emergency is a race we are losing, but it is a race we can win.”