11 Reasons to Be Optimistic About the Environmental Movement in 2020
Every day there are headlines about climate change and environmental issues giving us good reason to feel overwhelmed and demoralized about the damage being done to our planet. Whether it’s because of our negativity bias or the media constantly serving us bad news, we tend to overlook the progress that is being made all over the world.
Bad things happen quickly, but all good things take time, as Dr. Gordon Livingston might say. This certainly seems true for the environmental damage caused by humans as of late, however, it has taken a couple hundred of years guzzling fossils fuels to reach this point. In just a few decades the environmental movement has been picking up speed, and even in its infancy there has been a lot of progress that is often overlooked.
Here are a just a few of the many reasons to keep our hopes up that the future of human civilization may be more sustainable than we think:
There are more environmentalists online than ever before. In the past couple years we have seen a growing number of sustainability influencers and celebrity environmentalists—much like Greta—who are spreading the word about sustainability. This includes instagram accounts like Sustainable Daisy and Old World New and Phil Torres sharing tips about living sustainable lifestyles, as well as organizations like Fridays for Futures and superstars like Leo DiCaprio playing their part in the grassroots environmental movement.
It is not possible to share too much about sustainability. Even with all of the instagram and twitter accounts dedicated to spreading the word about environmental issues, we still can’t get enough. There are countless news and media sites, podcasts, and YouTube channels where people and organizations are sharing their knowledge about sustainability topics, trends, and technology.
More people are going to work for the environment. There are already millions of professionals working for renewable energy, clean tech, and environmental organizations who are hard at work bringing their products, ideas, and solutions to market. Not only are the top environmental non-profit organizations making tangible progress, many of the world’s largest companies are beginning to prioritize sustainability into their business models and operations. This trend is sure to empower future generations of environmentalists, clean energy advocates, eco-warriors, and sustainability professionals who will lead us towards a greener global economy and a cleaner planet.
The scope of the environmental movement is growing. While the original environmentalism movement was laser-focused on issues like “global warming” from a hole in the ozone layer, reducing pollutants like the DDT in pesticides and SOx that cause acid rain, and promoting renewable energy, there are countless new topics and issues being covered by the modern environmental movement. Among these issues are sustainable living, eco-friendly lifestyles, plastic-free products, sustainable fashion, plant-based diets, clean tech, protecting the oceans, and many more new trends. Of course, we are seeing continuous progress with what you might call the “classic” environmental issues: chemical agriculture products are being replaced by organics, ozone depletion has been reversed, and the renewable energy industry is stronger than ever.
Clean Technology is digestible, accessible, and exciting. As the global focus on environmental sustainability continues to grow, the number of options for being more green are almost overwhelming. However, living sustainably does not only mean limiting our impact on the environment, it also means continuing to support the desired quality of life for all of human civilization. This will only be possible by encouraging the growth of clean technologies and a sustainable economy, as well as encouraging each other to do their part wherever possible. Lucky for us, more sustainable technology is making its way seamlessly into our every day lives.
Humans are endlessly creative and resourceful. A lot of the technology we use today can be traced back a couple hundred years to the industrial revolution—some of the tools we use today can even be traced back millennia to ancient civilizations. But most of the technology we use is less than ten years old, and it’s likely that many of the devices and services we will be using in ten years don’t even exist yet. Using our knack for creativity and resourcefulness, the technology we can’t live without today will eventually be replaced with more sustainable tools and technology that will allow human civilization to continue moving forward without damaging our planet beyond repair.
There are so many eco-friendly products and consumer choices available now. As the number of humans living on earth creeps toward eight billion, we are faced with the challenge of sustaining the largest human population that has ever existed at one time on earth. The daily decisions that we face in consumption, whether it is the car we drive, the groceries we buy, or the electricity we use, have the potential to impact not only ourselves and our neighbors but the generations to come.
Helping people make informed decisions about the eco-friendly products they consume has the potential to reduce our impact on the environment and reach our goal of a sustainable civilization. Whether it is a decision to go solar, buy local goods, or donate to an environmental organization that you believe in, there are so many options that often we don't know where to begin.
The number of businesses in the sustainability industry is growing. Not too long ago, it was impossible to even imagine there would be such thing as a sustainability “industry.” Today, more and more companies are prioritizing a balance of environmental protection with the proliferation of modern society. Check out the mission statements of some of these companies:
Friends of the Earth: "Every year we’re seeing the impacts of climate change grow. Floods, droughts and storms are all getting worse. But the world can prevent the worst of climate change. And we’ll do this through a massive economic transformation – one that moves the planet off fossil fuels and on to renewable energy."
The Climate Trust: "The Trust works to accelerate project implementation, develop financing solutions, and establish a supportive policy environment in the agriculture, biogas and forestry sectors. By focusing our investments on projects with strong co-benefits, we aim to attract socially and environmentally responsible financial partners in exciting and often untapped arenas."
Green Energy Futures: "Green Energy Futures is a multi-media storytelling project that is documenting the clean energy revolution that's already underway. It tells the stories of green energy pioneers who are moving forward in their homes, businesses and communities."
The world is getting smaller. One of the biggest benefits of advanced technology and communication is being able to keep a close eye on the climate and natural environment. This means tracking critical issues facing the health of natural ecosystems and causing changes in climate, which allows us to prioritize and employ effective solutions. It also means that we are able to communicate globally about climate issues, discuss them on an international scale—even if COP26 is online—and keep track of the action that is being taken to reduce the worst impacts of climate change. Everything we are learning about the health of the natural environment and the potential solutions is growing into an expansive base of knowledge that will opens the door to more investment into sustainability and more opportunities for a sustainable future.
New infrastructure is helping make green more accessible. The concept of a Green New Deal has been making its way back into the spotlight since 2018, and even though the idea is a decade old it’s an encouraging sign for the next generation of civic engineers, architects, designers, city planners, and any professionals involved with (re)building infrastructure. We now have an opportunity to include people, health and wellness, and climate change planning in our plans for a cleaner and greener future.
No matter how much we learn about lowering our individual impacts, the systems and technology we depend on must also be improved in order to meet our sustainable aspirations. This means putting more electric vehicles on the road and upgrading our automotive infrastructure to support a green fleet of cars. It also includes replacing fossil fuels with distributed energy resources and investing in storage technology instead of fixing a 150-year old electric grid. The homes and buildings we live and work in, the transportation systems we depend on, the water resources we consume—all of these necessities and luxuries are attainable within the resource limits of our planet.
We are just getting started. This list could keep going forever, because there are so many reasons to be optimistic about future climate change solutions: The divestment movement is growing, the UNFCCC’s climate treaty is still in force for 189 countries, renewable energy is on the rise while fossil fuels are losing ground to new electricity generation, political support for climate change friendly policies is growing, and children around the world are beginning to raise their voices for the environment. In reality, the environmental movement is only a few decades old, yet more and more people are catching on to what climate change means and the benefit that a sustainable economy can have for the future of civilization and our planet as a whole.
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The mission of the EarthFix Club is to create a community for people who work in sustainability and are actively reducing their impact every day can be united with the students, aspirers, and “eco-curious” who are interested in learning more about sustainability and how they can make a difference.
If this community is able to grow, we will be continue to share tips, lessons, suggestions, and advice on how we can all live more sustainable lives. We are starting small, but together our collective voices can make a difference because there is no limit to the potential of a small group of dedicated environmentalists.
The EarthFix Club is not a business, it will never be a corporation. This is a grassroots attempt to create a place were we, the sustainable people, are sharing what’s possible and what’s happening in our lives that inspires and empowers us to reduce our impact on the environment.
In this community we strive to connect like-minded individuals who want to live more sustainable and feel like they are a part of a society that is working towards a collective goal. As a member of the EarthFix Club, you are joining the a grassroots movement to preserve our planet, educate yourself and your neighbors, and ultimately become a part of the solution for a clean and healthy environment.
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