The way I see it, the human race has two types of problems: how to live with each other, and how to live with ourselves. The first category includes all types of social, economic and political debates, because those are our attempts to solve generations worth of man-made problems with policies and ideas. The latter category is also one of man-made problems, but it aims at a larger question about our role as human beings: religion, environmentalism and peace, to name a few.
In today’s world, especially in an election year, these two categories blend together and become policy platforms and campaign slogans, and our views turn into political warfare. Right versus left versus independent versus nonpolitical. It leaves a sour taste when talking about climate change is immediately associated with Al Gore or the Environmental Protection Agency.
Americans tend to base what they believe on the political party they identify with, which is fine when it comes to issues of taxes, foreign affairs and gun control. But we are now in an age where we allow ourselves to be divided on issues that are not up for debate, things that affect our future and the well-being of our children if our species even lives long enough to have children.
Climate change — 97 percent of scientists believe that it is happening. According to a November 2015 CBS News report, 72 percent of Democrats, 52 percent of Independents and only 32 percent of Republicans agree that climate change is the result of human activity. The disconnect between scientific fact and belief is that scientific fact is most certainly due to the politicization of our environment.
In a study conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute, the most common reason for not believing in climate change is that those who do not believe it exists have not noticed a change in the weather around them. The second most common reason for not believing in climate change is that people believe that temperature varies naturally and that it is all part of a cycle.
These would be valid reasons if we were talking about matters of opinion rather than a clear scientific phenomenon that has been thoroughly researched and studied. If everything is about what you believe and science plays no role, then what is the point of attempting to discover truths?
Science is the closest thing we have to absolute truth. We teach it to our children as fact, yet when it is presented to us as fact, we reject its credibility and question its authority.
Many people in the world believe in religion and consider it to be truth without demanding evidence to support the claim. On the other hand, climate change has been proven to be true by almost every scientist in the world, yet there are still people who reject it.
As Americans, we have trouble crossing political and social lines and conceding to the other side, even when there is overwhelming evidence to support the opposite belief.
The fight against one other is so important to us that we forget what we’re fighting about.
There is a bigger problem here than what political party you’re registered as. In a few generations, there might not be an Earth for our children to live on. All of the social, political and economic debates we have will not be necessary without an Earth for us to fight one other on. That is why this issue transcends the man-made divisions within our society and speaks to a bigger reality.
People are already dying because of climate change related events, but as long as some gas or oil industry is making enough money to lobby against environmental policy, widespread change will never take place.
We’re willing to die for our country and take bullets to save the American name. Yet, somehow, we’ll never be willing to keep ourselves and our Earth alive. Climate change is real, it’s happening and it’s the responsibility of all humans, regardless of our political parties, to fix it.
Anjana Nair is an 18-year-old international studies sophomore from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.