While it may often seem like there is no hope for the environment and that no progress is being made, if you look past the doom and gloom, you will find that good work is being done. People tend to gravitate towards the negative happenings in the world and the news media makes it their business to headline the worst of the worst. However, things may not be as bad as the media makes it sound. In the article, "Cheer Up! The World Is Better Off Than You Think," New York Times columnist, Nicholas Kristof, points to many victories from the previous year.
While understanding that climate change is a serious threat, it is also important to know that there is hope and that it is worthwhile to keep fighting for a cleaner, greener planet. According to Kristof's article, solar power is on pace to become the world's leading power source, tripling in output and overtaking coal within the next five years. "If things go right, we’ll be able to enjoy cheaper, more reliable and more portable power than ever before," Kristof writes. "Truly cheap energy, whether from solar or fusion, could be transformational: For example, it could run desalination plants to provide the fresh water that we’re running out of." That is great news and would obviously be a game changer for our planet.
These changes are happening fast. In the Euro News article, 'Ray of hope’: Climate action professionals share why 2022 was an optimistic year" by Lottie Limb, she writes,"In the EU, solar power soared by almost 50 percent this year." That is a giant leap forward in a short amount of time. People are changing their daily habits to cause less environmental harm, like using cleaner forms of transportation. Governments are also stepping up to incentivizing people to pollute less. "In 2023, London will expand its Ultra Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ), which tackles air pollution by charging cars that don’t meet pollution guidelines to drive in certain parts of the city."
In Limb's article, she tells of another interesting development in 2022. "ClientEarth is celebrating a recent ruling that Australia’s climate inaction was a violation of Torres Strait islanders’ right to family life and culture.The first of its kind legal action asked Australia to compensate the claimants for the harm suffered and secure their communities’ safe existence. The complaint is yet more proof that governments can and will be held accountable when they fail to protect people from the devastating impacts of catastrophic climate change.”
Climate psychologist and educator, Jessica Kleczka, said she was inspired that climate activists are now receiving more funding to do their work. "What gave me hope for climate action in 2022 is a new initiative called HERO, which aims to provide a basic income for 10,000 climate activists in the next five years." Kleczka points out an interesting statistic that shows the power of activism. “The Stanford Social Innovation review found that funding climate movements can be 100 times more cost-effective in reducing CO2 emissions compared to buying carbon offsets." It looks like climate activists are getting the job done!
All of this positive news and a reminder that amazing work is being done. Let's keep it up! And if that's not enough of the positive news for you, check out the article "Here are all the positive environmental stories from 2022 so far" from Euro News. It has it all!
Thanks for reading!
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