Since Scott Pruitt resigned as head administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), former deputy administrator Andrew Wheeler has stepped up as the current acting head administrator. Environmental activists and Democrats are holding their breath to see if Wheeler has the ability to reverse poor choices made by Pruitt that not only cause further harm to the environment but also cost Pruitt his job.
Since the beginning of his term in office, Pruitt made his doubts about the existence of climate change very clear. He spent months attempting to overthrow all the work former President Obama had done with his Clean Energy Bill, and he lavishly used the funds of the EPA towards his own personal benefit. While we as the general populace cannot control the actions of our administrators, nor decide who gets elected to such positions, we can reflect upon our individual actions and the extent of the damage that they result in.
Throughout my studies and work to promote sustainable living and helping people learn more about climate change, I learned that many people are conscious about the actions that may harm or help the Earth, but oftentimes, even though the mindset of these people is in the right place, their actions do not live up to their words.
The argument that is often made is: “I’m just one person; in the grand scheme of things, my actions really do nothing to stop climate change.” This is not true. Every individual action makes an impact in hurting our environment just a little less.
Other people who do not necessarily see the impact of climate change believe that the effects of climate change will not be seen for another few decades. Even though researchers continue to disprove these statistics, people are still skeptical.
One of the most influential media acts by climate activists to win the support of the public is to show animal suffering, especially that of polar bears with melting ice caps. With the steady annual rise in temperature each year, more and more of the ice caps are melting into oceans, devastating the wildlife that reside in that terrain.
From that, millions of Americans thereby believe that their due diligence makes no difference, but researchers have found this to be untrue. To give another example, almost the entire world relies upon the internet and technology to communicate with those from overseas or just down the street. We take this access to the internet for granted every day, but one day, it might not be there anymore.
It has always been common knowledge that the rising sea levels may someday engulf the coastal states of the United States, especially California. Not only is the land at risk, but the precious infrastructure that helps make the internet run. According to an article published by NPR, Ramakrishnan Durairajan, a computer scientist at the University of Oregon, predicts that by the early 2030’s, more than 4000 miles of fiber optic cable along U.S. coastlines will be underwater if sea levels continue to rise at the levels they are currently at.
The technological advancements that we have seen over the past few decades may have been beneficial to improve the quality of life of first world countries in helping us to live more comfortably; however, our environment is struggling to compensate for such accommodations. We rely so heavily on technology to provide us with the comfort that we desire that we do not even stop to think of the negative consequences. But if we do not address these problems soon, the lack of internet will not be the number one priority to solve.
