Do you really want to be the reason our Earth is dying? Well, if you do, congratulations. We’re already halfway there.
For years, we have allowed climate change to worsen, and now we are seeing the impacts. We have a moral obligation to save this planet. We have one last chance, and we need to take it.
If we continue like this, human rights will face horrible ramifications. The rights to life, food, and security will be stripped from our future generations. But how is this fair? Why should they deal with the consequences of our actions? Amnesty International states that ‘extreme heat is a direct threat to human health, leading to complications and shortening life expectancy’. We are shortening the lives of people who haven’t even been born yet.
Already, the World Health Organisation reports that over 8000 people in the US have died because of extreme heat linked to climate change. Imagine if I committed a crime, but you were the one who had to go to jail for it. Would that be fair? But how is this any different to what we are doing right now? And what about equality? We need to ensure that sustainable development meets the needs of the present without compromising the needs of future generations.
This is called intergenerational equity. Each generation should inherit the same diversity in resources enjoyed by the generations before. To understand the large scale of this loss, the United Nations states that 1 million species are at risk of extinction in the recent future due to climate change. We do not have the right to strip others of a habitable, and healthy world. But currently, we are doing exactly that. We don’t know the full impacts of climate change on future generations, making it all the more dangerous. Because the risks of climate change are so serious, we need to take the safest approach possible, also known as the precautionary principle.
For example, if you thought your food was poisoned, would you eat it? No, you wouldn’t. You’d take the safe option. Because you care about yourself. Do we no longer care about our earth? Some say we can’t act now because the economic impact is too great. But think about this. If we leave our consequences for future generations, and global warming destroys our Earth, what then? Each year, environmental factors take the lives of 13 million people. In 2024, the UN stated that 46 million people were displaced due to weather-related disasters. Our Earth is losing species at a rate 1000 times greater than at any other point in human history. Do you really think there would be anything left to save? When the effects become irreversible, when all our glaciers have thawed, do you think that any amount of futuristic technology or money would be able to salvage our world?
Yes, governments will need a lot of money to accommodate for damage and facilities, but we need to start somewhere. Isn’t our future more valuable than money?
Because one day, someone is going to look back at us. At the warnings we received. At the opportunities we had. As they sit amongst the dry land, they will ask the question: did they know? And the answer? Yes. Yes, we do know. And yet, we continue to ignore it. Why? Because we are ignorant. Because we are selfish. Because we care more about ourselves than the children in 50 years who will never see the beauty of our Earth, who will ask us what a polar bear was, what a rainforest was, what a mountain was. And all we would have for these little children would be mere photos, videos, recordings, the once-thriving Earth trapped within a cellular device, frozen, forever.
When they ask us what happened? Why we couldn’t stop it? The only thing we’d be able to do is hang our heads in shame.
We don’t need sympathy. We need action. Starting from today, support renewable energy. Choose electric transport. Plant native species to support biodiversity. Every single person reading right now can and must initiate change. Together, we need to encourage our governments to invest in sustainable industries, without relying on fossil fuels. We must. For the children. For our animals. And for our beautiful Earth.
Make the change. For human rights, for intergenerational equity, and for the precautionary principle.
Make the change. Because even though we have destroyed our Earth by half, we still have one half left.
One more half to save our dying friend.
One more half to fix the damage we have created.
One. More. Half.
So please, look inside of you and find that half, before it’s too late.
