How to Address Climate Change
As it was made clear on the "Who does Climate Change Affect" page, the effects of climate change are extremely diverse. This means that addressing climate change must take on an equally diverse approach acknowledging the varying effects climate change has on different people, ecosystems, and government policies. Such an approach can be understood as taking an interdisciplinary approach.
Stakeholders
One key aspect of addressing climate change is recognizing and respecting the various actors (stakeholders) that are affected by the climate crisis and any policies adopted to address it. It is important to remember that confronting the climate crisis requires buy-in from all stakeholders and so collaboration is paramount.
Accountability
We live in an era of social movements and performative activism and allyship. This means that everyone, whether they be a corporation, politician, or individual often espouses a commitment to addressing key issues such as climate change.
Such public commitments are important, not because they demonstrate a genuine commitment but rather because it gives the public the ability to hold them to their own word. Without holding public actors accountable, it is unlikely that the needed changes will happen on their own.
Outside the Box
When thinking about how to address climate change, one must go beyond common suggestions such as green energy, electric vehicles, recycling, or voting for an environmentally focused party among other actions. These are all good ideas and should be discussed, examined, and adopted where possible.
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That said, we also need to reflect on our own world view. The climate crisis has gotten to its current state not simply because there are lots of cars on the road or not enough people recycle. Climate change is the result of a general societal worldview that the Earth is ours to extract resources from and subsequently benefit from, whether that be financially or through the fruits of progress.
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Therefore, to create a longlasting positive change in relation to climate change, we as a species and society need to reflect on the relationship we tend to have with the world including the environment and be open minded to ideas that offer alternative relationships to the world around us.
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