{"id":6387,"date":"2017-09-27T15:04:43","date_gmt":"2017-09-27T15:04:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mytutor.co.uk\/blog\/?p=6387"},"modified":"2024-10-02T13:40:55","modified_gmt":"2024-10-02T13:40:55","slug":"students-care-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mytutor.co.uk\/blog\/parents\/just-for-fun\/students-care-climate-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Why students should care about climate change"},"content":{"rendered":"

For me, the\u00a0word ‘student’ is synonymous with stress. It seems we are always running around doing one thing or another, whether that be scrambling to finish school work, make our extra-curriculars,\u00a0or chasing that elusive thing called a \u201csocial life\u201d.\u00a0So,\u00a0I imagine my telling you to add yet another thing to that never-ending list\u00a0is not going to go down terribly well. But I\u2019m going to do it anyway, because unlike your calculus homework and\u00a0badminton practice, if we forget to\u00a0cross this\u00a0particular bullet point\u00a0off our to-do lists\u00a0we will,\u00a0quite literally,\u00a0be letting the entire planet down.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

How we treat the world\u00a0today will determine the future we find tomorrow. As students it’s easy to live inside\u00a0our own bubbles\u00a0of existential crises and\u00a0report cards,\u00a0so much so\u00a0that\u00a0we\u00a0can\u00a0forget\u00a0there\u2019s a world beyond us.\u00a0We get up in the morning and everything works: the\u00a0rubbish has been collected, the streets are clean, schools are funded,\u00a0representatives have been elected –\u00a0society\u00a0seems to run\u00a0without our intervention or\u00a0contribution. It seems the \u201cadults\u201d, or the professionals if you will, have everything figured out, and\u00a0so\u00a0it’s easy to think\u00a0we’re not needed. Herein lies the problem.\u00a0We hear about issues like\u00a0poverty, natural disasters and\u00a0climate change<\/a>, and we don\u2019t stop to think about what we should do\u00a0to change them\u00a0because we think\u00a0someone else has already come up with a solution.\u00a0But I\u2019m going to let you in on a little\u00a0secret – they haven\u2019t.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Climate change is something that (I hope) you\u2019ve all heard about. You\u2019ve probably had several lectures on it at some point\u00a0in\u00a0your life. It\u2019s that\u00a0abstract thing that\u2019s melting our polar ice caps, acidifying our oceans and\u00a0causing freak weather\u00a0events all over the world. But that\u2019s the funny thing about it.\u00a0It\u2019s something so massive, so\u00a0consequential we don\u2019t even know where to begin. Some of us decide, well I\u2019m not a polar bear so why should I care? Others refuse to believe the science (let me tell you, it\u2019s there), and some\u00a0simply\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0know where to\u00a0start: they\u00a0think the issue is so\u00a0important that they\u00a0would\u00a0rather\u00a0leave it to the\u00a0politicians and the\u00a0government to deal with.\u00a0Well, I\u2019m here to implore you to stop doing that.\u00a0We, like everyone else, are citizens of\u00a0the\u00a0earth, and with that title comes a great deal of responsibility.\u00a0We share a role in the predicament we now face, and every\u00a0pocket of society needs to come together in order to conquer it.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So now for\u00a0the\u00a0ever-important\u00a0question:\u00a0what can I do?\u00a0Let me answer that\u00a0with another question,\u00a0or several. Do\u00a0you think climate change is going to be solved by some sort of government policy being passed? Do you think\u00a0taxation is the answer?\u00a0What about\u00a0subsidizing green energies?\u00a0Don\u2019t get me wrong, all of\u00a0these\u00a0have a part to play,\u00a0but they are not the sole\u00a0solution. I for one am a strong believer in small changes.\u00a0There\u2019s a beautiful quote by the brilliant J.R.R. Tolkien\u00a0on\u00a0this:\u00a0\u201cLittle by little one travels far.\u201d\u00a0It is not going to be nuclear energy alone that makes us stop using coal, nor is it going to be\u00a0raising oil prices. The only way we will get anywhere is\u00a0by individual people doing small things\u00a0in their everyday lives.\u00a0You might think\u00a0turning off your lights, eating less beef, and biking to school every day is\u00a0insignificant,\u00a0but\u00a0it isn\u2019t. Think of the impact we might have if a million of us did that.\u00a0What about a billion?\u00a0In the beginning you might be\u00a0one of a few, but in time others\u00a0will\u00a0follow\u00a0your\u00a0example. They might ask you why you don\u2019t choose the burger from the canteen, or\u00a0why you\u00a0don\u2019t have a car. And it is these small, insignificant conversations that will\u00a0be the spark of inspiration we need\u00a0– the spark that will set off the movement towards sustainability.<\/p>\n

So never tell yourself that you can\u2019t make a difference.\u00a0Never think that as a student you\u00a0won\u2019t have enough impact. Because you can and you will.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sophie Z. is an undergraduate studying Environmental Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh and a Chemistry tutor<\/a>. She is hoping to do her postgraduate work in Marine Chemistry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For me, the\u00a0word ‘student’ is synonymous with stress. It seems we are always running around doing one thing or another, whether that be scrambling to finish school work, make our extra-curriculars,\u00a0or chasing that elusive thing called a \u201csocial life\u201d.\u00a0So,\u00a0I imagine…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":6391,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[108,133,354,788],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy students should care about the climate change<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Students should care about the environment; it is in trouble, and every pocket of our society needs to come together to change it before it's too late.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mytutor.co.uk\/blog\/parents\/just-for-fun\/students-care-climate-change\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why students should care about the climate change\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Students should care about the environment; 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