Global warming is a controversial topic, I mean is it real or isn’t it? Many people like to believe it so, yet others fight it tooth and nail. And who seems to be behind the fighting? Mature adults, who are often set in their ways, or the youth who appear to have better things to do then waste time on issues like global warming? I mean, ideally, since young people today are growing up in a world of more scientific evidence, increased news attention, and alarming entertainment portrayals one would think that they would have a greater concern for global warming than older people who grew up knowing very little of the matter. But is that the case here? Do younger people seem more engaged with what’s going on with the climate? To my knowledge, that doesn’t appear to be the case.
Young people just don’t seem to be concerned with global warming. Many of them aren’t even aware of its presence and others have heard of the phenomenon but refuse to do anything about it. Now I’m not crediting the lack of knowledge to ALL young people in today’s society, but many of them fall under one of the two categories mentioned above. So where does that leave us? I mean aren’t young people the future of our society? I know firsthand the thoughts that flow through the mind of a teenager and global warming is the least of their worries!
I came from a high school where global warming really wasn’t discussed- and I surely didn’t do any sort of outside research- so like many of my fellow classmates, I was quite ignorant on the subject. It wasn’t until my junior year of high school where I first heard global and warming in the same sentence in school, it was the subject of a writing prompt for the AP practice test. Like I said earlier, I didn’t know much about global warming so I was forced to seek outside help. Now I didn’t thoroughly search the deep, dark, depths of the internet to find every little detail about global warming (I just skimmed a few websites to grasp the gist of the concept). My findings were very interesting, I had always “believed” in global warming because my parents did but never actually knew what it was- just that the earth was heating. But this was the first time I truly saw the horrors that global warming could bring, and it was spooky. Sadly it wasn’t enough to snap me into sustainability mode, meaning I wasn’t ready to move off the grid, turn my roof into a solar panel farm, and remodel my bathroom to make room for a composting toilet, but it did lead me into making subtle changes. I started recycling, switched to florescent light bulbs, and made other small changes. If I can make myself change a few aspects of my life (although minor- a little helps a little) due to my findings on the internet imagine what we could change if we expand from there.
The point I’m trying to make is that there aren’t a lot of things raising awareness to our youth about global warming, even though it’s a serious issue. I believe that with a little knowledge, and perhaps a few scare tactics, we could snap everyone into a modified version of a sustainability lifestyle. Right now, young people are more concerned with fashion trends, celebrity gossip, and the NBA draft than they are with major societal problems. And it all works through media and advertisement. I’m proposing that in order to reach the youth, we need to develop public service announcements getting global warming out there. Once they hear the harm global warming has on them, they’ll be more inclined to make the change. I’d preferably like to see it in a style similar to the new cigarette commercials- I feel as though they portray them in a graphic and frightening manor which has a huge impact on how people react. Sort of like using the absolute worse outcomes of global warming to scare the youth straight.
Something needs to be done, if we keep ignoring it and waiting around for someone else to fix it then we could be looking at a shorter time here on earth. The youth especially needs to be concerned because they’re looking forward to this for 50 to 60 more years- more or less. Global warming is going to affect them, their kids, and perhaps even harshly, their grandkids! So we need to act fast.