Being environmentally conscious grows more important by the year, and it’s something many of us don’t really appreciate or take seriously. This isn’t because of laziness or a failure of character. Instead, it’s more a symptom of how busy our lives are and how we understand our place in the world.
Armagh isn’t exactly a huge place, and our contributions to the global pollution problem are negligible at most, but that doesn’t mean we can rest on our laurels. Becoming more eco-friendly is possible no matter our size, and even small changes can help make our world a better, cleaner, and healthier place.
What’s With Our Approach?
Global pollution has accelerated to the point where putting the genie back into the bottle is no longer possible. Despite the bias of pundits, the overwhelming international scientific consensus on climate change is settled, no matter how much companies fund bad-faith arguments to the contrary.
Understanding the pollution problem, many of us already adopt eco-friendly approaches in our daily lives. As highlighted by CyberGhost, keeping the lights off, recycling, reusing grocery bags, and signing up for electronic billing are all approaches that have become the new norm. Each of these offers advantages, not just in terms of saving a little money but also in keeping Armagh clear of additional litter. Dealing with fewer plastic bags on our property is already a nice change, and it’s through small changes like this that change eventually adds up.
Excuses and Deflections
There are two main reasons we see repeated regarding a lack of will to enact local eco-friendly change. The first comes from our placement as a small actor on a large stage, but as we constantly see in the news, there’s always an excuse for any country to avoid making an effort.
As noted by UCSUSA, China’s CO2 emissions are higher than the USA’s. People in the US have used this as an excuse to push the burden on China. On the other hand, China’s contributions are lower per capita, which has been used as an excuse for China to push the burden onto the USA. In the meantime, many of the little guys are paving the way forward, as without making a move, everybody will end up worse off.
The cost is the second reason we commonly see for avoiding local eco-friendly change. While it is true that making changes and preparing for the future will be expensive, refusing to change simply offloads an even greater cost to the future. It’s investing a lot now or spending a ridiculous amount later. Since passing the burden to the next generation got us this far, the buck has to stop somewhere.
Oil Spill – 0116 (CC BY-SA 2.0) by ARLIS
Playing our part in making Armagh more eco-friendly isn’t an easy sell, but the longer we wait to change, the more negative effects will be. As tempting as believing in hypothetical conspiracies about our tax dollars might be, we need to understand where science, facts, and history lie.
Scientific American isn’t alone in covering the millions spent over decades by companies to line their pockets at the cost of our future. The bill comes due every year, and we, like everyone else, need to keep up.
