Climate change: An opportunity to show your love for family and friends!

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I am sure a lot of us have had moments in their life where they are jolted back to the harsh reality that life on this planet is borrowed and we are not promised tomorrow. As fleeting as this feeling may be, when it hits us, it shakes us momentarily to the core of our being. The stark reality of this realization forces us to introspectively evaluate our lives and put into perspective the things that we value the most. In most cases, we realize that what we value the most is family and their well being.

My moment of introspection came about recently as a result of the experiences of two people whose well being I value considerably, my brother and my girlfriend. My brother got involved in a car accident and was bedridden for over a week. My girlfriend on the other had to undergo an operation which although she declared was no big deal, had me worried (She is a medical student… if you have ever been to the hospital or in an emergency situation, you will know that people in the medical field almost always take things lightly while the rest of us panic). These two occurrences got me thinking about the things which are important to me and what others may value in their lives as well. My humble conclusion was that everyone wants the best for the people they love. The people they love are mostly family and close friends. Having realized this, I went on further to think about what it is that everyone who cares about the well being of family and friends could do to show their love.

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Countless ideas ran through my mind including, spending quality time with family and friends, and helping each other in times of need, uplifting one another spiritually and many other typical ideas. However, I challenged myself to think a bit out of the box and find long-lasting impactful things we can do for our families and our friends. I asked myself this question “what is one of the biggest unavoidable challenges that the human race is currently experiencing and may continue to encounter for years to come?” While a lot of us may think in terms of war, civil unrest (given the recent trend of civic demonstrations and clashes between civilians and their governments worldwide) and poverty (of which our continent is a leading sufferer), my mind strayed even further.  This challenge to human kind should encompass all these and more. Then it hit me. CLIMATE CHANGE!

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Climate change currently has strong impacts on our planet, our families and friends in ways which cannot be ignored. This current challenge encompasses all facets of our lives by taxing our ability to produce food, our health, our shelter through climate change induced disasters like cyclones, and floods, our industries and therefore our economics. By straining these basic human needs, climate change also has the ability to cause civil unrest thereby affecting our politics as well. In that sense, climate change has and will continue to have adverse impacts on the lives of the people we love for generations to come. Therefore, one of the most important actions that human kind can start to take now to demonstrate its love and care for family and friends is to start caring a bit more about our planet. In so doing, we show our care for our families now and those which are to come.

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Many of us may think to themselves, but I am just one person, I am not a scientist, a politician or a policy maker, what do I have to offer? Policymakers and politicians have more often than not failed us by putting political ambitions ahead of the well being of the people they lead. Therefore, you are in a better position to fight the impacts of climate change than a politician. You have no voters to entice. All you have is deep love and concern for your family and friends. In my opinion that’s the best weapon you can wield for this kind of a battle.

The battle against climate change and global warming requires heart. Since we have more of that through our love for family and friends, we already have a head start. In coming posts, I will demonstrate how ordinary people can make a difference in the global battle against global warming and climate change. I will also show how our companies, churches, organizations and schools can play a part in this battle as well. For those of us who have heard buzz words such as global warming, climate change, going green, carbon footprint, environmental sustainability etc, and still don’t understand what these are and what their relevance in our lives is, subsequent posts will explain these in a way that will challenge you to action. Furthermore, I will give tips on how we can take action in our daily lives without much cost to our pockets or time.

All we need to do is treat this planet as if it was not given to us by our parents but as if it was loaned to us by our children. “Good intentions never work, action does”.