Climate Change The Paris Agreement

You can take a horse to the river but you cannot make it drink.

Covid-19 has forced us to drink the fact that climate change is real. We have one body of air we share like the sun and moon, but it is filthy. That’s why we were masks.

Now that we have accepted that we polluted the air, what can we do to rectify the situation, if it’s possible at all? Governments from the most polluting countries signed the l’accord de Paris, known as The Paris Agreement. President Obama signed, but President Trump canceled it because climate change is “fake”.

In Europe, countries have various subsidies to encourage less damage to the frail environment. For example, Sweden and Germany have money incentives for citizens buying plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles. Figures indicate that sales are going up.

Some people admitted that climate change is real long before Covid-19, so they tried various ways of helping to stop further damage to the environment.

They use those blue bins religiously and teach the family how to sort bottles from cans and pulling the grocery cart instead of getting plastic bags @ 5 cents each. I sometimes see shoppers putting groceries in their backpacks.

Electric Cars

Besides home recycling, ordinary people don’t know how they can stop further deterioration of the one planet we have. What can I do, I’m just one person?

It’s one person, but someone who buys new cars for personal use or for teenage kids. We’ve seen climate change protests by the youth which means that they’re are aware that they are the reluctant beneficiaries of an environment that looks like honeycombs but not that sweet. 

Therefore, they’ll understand why buying them plug-in hybrids and electric cars, is a small attempt to repair the air they breathe.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.