By Mac Bellingham
Before we start discussing how to prevent climate change, what is it exactly? By definition, climate change is a change in weather or temperature. It is mostly natural, but what this article is referring to is ‘global warming’, an unnatural rise in temperature. The culprit? Human activities such as burning fossil fuels, releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. These gases then surround our planet, trapping heat inside it, leading to rising temperatures. It may not sound that bad, but high temperatures lead to floods, rising sea levels, and heat waves. Which will eventually lead to the destruction of our planet.
One relatively small thing you can do, as a teenager, is to go on public transportation more often. This is a very simple way to help, especially in Singapore, where public transport tends to be safer and better compared to other countries. This method helps because 41% of all global carbon emissions in 2020 was due to passenger cars. If this was in 2020, during the beginning of the lockdown, imagine what the number would be nowadays, when everyone is going out again.
This next method involves the help of your parents, and a bit of effort, but is definitely a great way to prevent global warming. Replace the lightbulbs in your house with LED lightbulbs. They are longer lasting, making it a more economical option for the long term, as well as reducing carbon emissions by reducing the amount of emissions from the shipping process. However, there are some negative aspects, such as LED bulbs using blue lights, which makes it harder to sleep. So before you buy these lightbulbs, do some research and see if they are right for you. There is no ‘one size fits all’ solution when it comes to this issue, so do not feel pressured into doing all of these.
An easier solution for a teenager would be related to screen time and technology. Throughout manufacturing, shipping, and its first four years of life, a laptop has a carbon footprint of 422.5kgs. Screens are connected to data centres all over the world. These data centres and the computers inside them need to be cooled, and those cooling units are running on fossil fuels, meaning whenever you use your laptop, you are indirectly releasing carbon into the air. Reducing your screen time significantly reduces this number, as you are releasing CO2 less often.
There are other things you can do related to technology as well. If you want an easy way to contribute (although you should always be doing more), you could try to print less! Do you really need to print out that report to annotate? Try doing it online!
Although energy resources and transportation are the main contributors, there are other factors that can indirectly help. For instance, cutting down on the amount of red meat and dairy products you consume is a big way to help. Animal agriculture is 15% of all emissions currently. This is due to the amount of energy and labour it takes to raise cows. Forests are being destroyed to make space for farms. This is reducing ways that nature itself can prevent climate change. Cows themselves also contribute to climate change, being 40% of the world’s methane emissions, by their own emissions: their burps and farts, a product of their high fibre diet. Going meat-free would help the most, but just by cutting down the amount of meat you consume from 3-4 times a week to 1-2 helps immensely.
The last, and probably the most important way to help prevent climate change, is to spread the word. When discussing with family and friends, bring up all the small ways that you can help stop climate change. But the conversation shouldn’t stop there. Communicate with politicians and spread awareness towards climate change, encouraging the government to take action as well. Governments are vital for this campaign, as they can set rules and regulations for companies to follow. Use social media to reach influential figures, and campaign for these better rules! I encourage you to ask the government to set more rules following climate change. The Singapore government is quite good at this already, considering their public transport is well funded, and they have plans to reduce the amount of cars on the roads, and to make a cars free district. But there is always more we can do. We should not stop trying once we complete or do one goal. Winning a single battle does not stop the war. All of us should be trying to think of more ways to help the climate, otherwise we might just pay for it.