Yesterday, we confessed our crimes in front of the whole world. We marched, protested, chanted slogans and raised placards – high in the air. We were guilty of the blood on our hands. The only irony: we didn’t realize we were marching against ourselves.
For who else has brought about this disastrous change in the environment if not us – humans? It is said that future generations will regard our period as the ‘Plastic Age’. This thought alone sends shivers down one’s spine.
So the questions boil down to this: who were we protesting against yesterday? We are the culprits. We are the plastic-lovers, the industrialists, and the deforests. We are the ones who cool our homes while we warm our planet. How many times have we refused to drink in a plastic bottle, cycled to work or carried a cloth-bag for grocery?
It is believed that there is more than a 95% probability that human activities over the past 50 years have warmed our planet. So while it is true that Governments and Policymakers need to prioritize climate change more than anything else, it is about time that we blame ourselves equally for the destruction caused to Earth as anyone else.
Now that we are united together against a cause, let it be the moment for self-realization and change. Why wait for others to take action – when each and everyone one of us is to be blamed?
In its Fifth Assessment Report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a group of 1,300 independent scientific experts from countries all over the world under the auspices of the United Nations, concluded there’s a more than 95 percent probability that human activities over the past 50 years have warmed our planet.