Everyone knows about the negative effect that climate change has had over the decade. This decade, we’ve seen increasingly intense weather, hotter seasons, melting ice caps, and pictures of destruction from all over the world. The future feels bleak and apocalyptic when we look at what could happen if our world doesn’t take action in time. Hopelessness. It’s not a fun feeling and definitely does not help.
There must be some sort of optimism to cling to if we’re to keep going and there is. The percentage of electricity generated from coal dropped from 46% to 25% and is projected to drop to 22% this year. With renewable energy sources like wind and solar on the rise, coal should continue to drop. Renewable energy sources have become cheaper than coal to use too, giving us yet another incentive to get rid of coal.
Along with that, ozone depleting chemicals such as chlorofluorocarbons were phased out of use around the world and this process was completed in 2010 under the Montreal Protocol of 1987. This successfully allowed us to avoid one degree of warming and put off climate change for a little longer. In 2016, continuing under the Montreal Protocol 197 countries created an amendment to reduce production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons by over 80% over the next thirty years. Though the United States has yet to ratify this, another bill like it was introduced over the summer and has gained support in the Senate.
I’m not gonna lie, we still have a long way to go- the world isn’t going to magically become sunshine and rainbows- but progress is progress. We need to keep building momentum with it this decade to stop or at the very least slow down climate change. We’re getting closer to a point of no return. Let’s start off this decade on a positive note and KEAP Earth Green!
-AK