by George P. Nassos
There is no question that the environment has deteriorated over the past 100 years, and the rate of deterioration is increasing. In terms of climate change, James Hansen testified before Congress in 1988 that the atmosphere is warming faster than expected. In 1992, the International Panel on Climate Change first met and set 1997 as the date to set goals as part of the Kyoto Protocol. The Paris Agreement in 2015 set a goal to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels by 2030. This target was initially set for 2050. We may have already exceeded this goal, and there is no turning back.
Another environmental issue that needs to be addressed is the over-consumption of our natural resources. We are currently consuming natural resources at a rate equivalent to 1.7 earths. And it has been increasing almost every year for the past 20 years. Contributing to this phenomenon is the growing population of the earth.
A third major environmental issue is the decline in availability of freshwater. This can be attributed to climate change and population growth. It has been reported that more than half of the world’s population faces water scarcity for at least one month a year. Scientists have reported that many regions in the U.S. will loose as much as 1/3 of their water supply within 50 years.
Climate change and these other environmental issues are affecting young adults, primarily increasing anxiety about climate change and its impact on their future. Numerous studies around the world have shown that over half of the young adults in their early 20s are very worried about their future relative to the climate. On top of this, about two-thirds of these young adults feel that their respective governments are ignoring science and not doing enough to mitigate the issue. Unfortunately, they also feel that there is little they can do to convince their respective governments to take the necessary action.
These young adults are justified in being concerned about their respective governments. If you review the Climate Change Performance Index (https://ccpi.org) of the 64 largest carbon emitting countries, the two largest emitters, China and the U.S., are ranked 52 and 54 respectively in terms of their programs to improve climate change. Other large emitters are #55 – Japan, #59 – Canada, and #61 – Russia. Fortunately, the third biggest carbon emitter, India, is ranked #7, which indicates they are doing well in minimizing climate change.
If young adults cannot depend on their respective governments to reduce carbon emissions, they will have to depend on the corporations. Fortunately, there is a definite increase in the corporations adopting ESG operating principles which improve the environment while meeting the profitability goals of the company. But there are still companies that focus more on profitability and have not adopted environmental sustainability. So, what else can young adults do to relieve this climate change anxiety? They may have to take it upon themselves to implement some environmental programs while trying to convince their governments and the corporations to act.
A possible alternative is to convince NGOs to take a lead position in improving climate change and the other major environmental issues. The NGOs institute programs to improve the environment and attempt to convince their governments to take action. One possibility is to work with their respective religious affiliation. The Roman Catholic church has adopted the Laudato Si encyclical which led to the Laudato Si Action Platform, a means to understand environmental justice, ecology, sustainability, and roles to promote them through seven specific goals. The Eastern Orthodox Church, the world’s second largest Christian religion, is led by Patriarch Bartholomew who is also known as the Green Patriarch because of his emphasis on not doing damage to the environment.
If you can’t work from the top down by depending on the government to take action, the young adults will have to work from bottom up. They should form an environmental ministry at their house of worship and develop environmental programs to enhance the church community. This can include environmental education, recycling, waste minimization, plastic use reduction, and even installation of solar panels for which there are federal and state incentives to minimize the cost. Another recommendation would be to develop a project for improving the natural habitat while collaborating with community members.
To convince the government officials of the importance of caring for creation, a climate corps can be formed empowering youth to lead climate action. An example of such an organization is Ecogenia (https://ecogenia.org) which was established in 2021. Its goal is to become a national youth corps, where thousands of young Greeks are empowered to contribute to climate action and build a resilient Greek society. By partnering with the government, it sets an example of the importance of improving the environment in the very future..
Something similar can be accomplished by working with religious organizations. The goal is to improve the environment and set an example for the hierarchs of the various religious denominations. When they realize this concern by so many people, the hierarchs will, hopefully, emphasize this movement to the clergy and parishioners around the world. Then greater action to improve the environment will take place.