“If humans could really change the climate, everyone would be talking about it, and people wouldn’t be talking about anything else.”

This quote by Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old climate activist from Sweden, perfectly sums up a major deadlock in effective climate policy—people don’t act like it’s a crisis. People simply hope that politicians know what they are doing, and that they are aware of the risk that climate change brings. They believe that activism will be done by others and that they don’t need to play a role.

The climate crisis is not one that requires 10+ more years of research; it has already been solved. The problem doesn’t lie in science—it lies in the politicians, companies, and citizens ignoring science in favour of short-term gain and comfort. Since the late 1960s, evidence of the effects of our actions has been present on both the Internet and through research. Before I continue, however, it is essential to recognise that the damage done is not universal.

The wealthiest 10% of the population, which includes most people in the global North, are responsible for 49% of total CO2 emissions in the world. The poorest 50% are only responsible for around 10%, yet they are the ones that will likely see the worst effects of climate change. It is the responsibility of those who brought on this crisis to solve it, and to ensure that the nations who suffered at the hands of the North’s development are compensated so that they, on their own terms, can develop sustainably.

The lack of action from the general public against political inaction can be blamed mainly on how the climate issue is framed. You would think that when we hear that climate change is “the defining issue of our time,” that it would be all anyone could talk about. That there would be severe regulations against the use of non-renewable energy and deforestation. That there would be mandatory classes in school to educate students about the environment.

How are people supposed to grasp the urgency of the climate problem when we can legally use fossil fuels to heat our homes; when politicians campaign on removing carbon taxes and cutting regulations; when breaking news focuses on Trump’s new tweets rather than Pacific Islands being swallowed by the sea.

“I don’t want your hope. I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I do. Every day. And want you to act. I want you to behave like our house is on fire. Because it is.”
– Greta Thunberg

We don’t talk about it. Currently, the majority of the nations that ratified the Paris Agreement are on track to fail in keeping the temperature below a 1.5°C, or even 2°C increase above pre-industrial levels. It might be preached as a “diplomatic success,” however, the scientific reality is that, with the current COP21’s plan (Paris Agreement), we are on track to hit a 2.7°C increase in temperature by 2100. By then, most of us reading this will be around a hundred years of age if we are privileged to live that long, with children and grandchildren of our own. A 2-3°C increase will see a risk of global mass extinction, global crop decline, and millions at risk for displacement by the rise in sea levels. At the 3-4°C increase, our adaptability to this planet will become questionable.

We are much too hopeful. We are told to recycle, turn off our lights, and buy metal straws; we are told that our individual actions are enough. And in a sense, they are. I am not advocating for you to stop recycling, but you can’t stop at recycling. You can’t leave your future in the hands of a government that still promotes the use of fossil fuels and spends $4.5 billion on another transnational pipeline.

You cannot hope that our leaders are aware of the implications of their inaction. We need to drastically increase the pressure on our leaders through protests and public action. We need to unite as a population and force climate change to become a daily focus in the news. We need to take responsibility for the thousands of individuals that will fall victim to coastal flooding, and for the thousands that have already lost their homes due to rising sea levels.

We cannot push off this issue any longer. If the Paris Agreement, a “diplomatic success,” is not a drastic enough measure, it goes to show just how behind we are in taking a stand.