Climate change has been at the forefront of the media for a long time now, becoming a more pressing issue each year - however, many people don’t seem to understand its real significance. "More than 1 million species are at risk of extinction by climate change," "CO2 levels are rising rapidly," "Worst bushfire season on record," "Fate of Arctic sea ice likely sealed, even with climate action" are only a few of the news headlines our generation had to grow up with.
These headlines affected many adolescents and children growing up in the 21st century, me included. It's engraved in our brains from a young age that reversing climate change is something we'll have to figure out. Researchers from the University of Bath along with other institutions interviewed 10,000 people in ten countries, who are all between the ages of 16 and 25, to gauge their attitudes toward climate change. The general response can be summed up in two words: extremely concerned. Furthermore, respondents believe that governments are not doing enough to prevent climate change.
The most recent United Nations report on climate change warns that a potentially disastrous future for the globe is approaching quicker than previously expected, causing more distress within the population. Ecosystems, food production, health, and infrastructure have all suffered substantial harm due to the climactic alterations caused by us humans. Further damage can be mitigated to some extent if the temperature rise is capped at 1.5 degrees Celsius, but it will not be feasible to prevent all negative impacts.
It is important that we as a generation take climate change seriously, because we may be the ones to witness the devastating effects this disaster is yet to bring.
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