The Earth has a deadline; But who’s responsible?

BY OMNIYA ALI

At the age of fifteen, teens are just beginning to develop socially, emotionally and intellectually. By sixteen, they begin to obtain the ability to think abstractly, deal with several concepts at a time, and imagine the future consequences of their actions. So, how is it that a fifteen-year-old child has been able to reflect on the consequences of the actions of previous generations? Greta Thunberg was only fifteen in 2018 when she embarked on her journey as an environmental activist. Receiving warning after warning from professionals, the human race continued to cause nothing but destruction to the only planet that can sustain life. It reached a point where today’s youth including Greta among other youth activists around the world felt the need to take matters into their own hands to ensure a future for themselves. At ages fifteen and younger, they are just starting their hike towards optimal development and critical reasoning, all the while they have been able to think more clearly than most adults today. Almost as though they knew what was about to come…

As of lately, wildfires have been more common than not. While the American West has suffered recently, fires have also been seen in The Arctic and Siberia, Indonesia, Brazil, Australia and Argentina setting a world record for 2020. “In each case, the contributing factors are different, but an underlying theme runs through the story: Hotter, drier seasons, driven by the burning of fossil fuels, have made the world more prone to erupt in flames,” Veronica Penney; The New York Times. Having all the preceding facts and understanding the grave severity of the matters at hand, the term ‘shifting smoke’ should be more alarming than it is to the general population. Understanding that these fires have not only ravaged 4.5 million acres across the U.S. West Coast, but are also drifting smoke between continents and up to record heights in the atmosphere. Although air quality at the ground level may not change drastically due to the high altitudes of the smoke, other effects can occur. Santiago Gassó, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Maryland expressed in an interview with Reuters that ultimately, sunshine can be blocked from reaching the ground by wildfire smoke due to it comprising of dark carbon particles. Upon that blockage, other disruptions will occur, namely, ground temperature, as well as the effective performance of photosynthesis by plants.  “If these smoke layers stayed up there for a month, you would see changes in temperatures, weather patterns, just because you’re putting something up there that doesn’t belong there. You’re changing the dynamics of the atmosphere,” Gassó explained. Furthermore, high-altitude smoke may increasingly contribute to the heat because dark, carbon particles absorb solar radiation, successfully warming a thin layer in the atmosphere.

Although, this information is being repeatedly delivered to invoke action and demand change, a consideration of the large contributors must be assessed. Gan Golan and Andrew Boyd, two artists decided the best way to approach this global detriment is to create a constant reminder of how long we have before ultimate devastation. The digital clock on the Metronome was recently changed by the aforementioned artists from simply displaying the time to displaying a “critical window for action to prevent the effects of global warming from becoming irreversible,” Colin Moynihan. In context of this update many people expressed their dismay with the idea on several social media outlets. Many of which criticized statements such us this one made by Stephen Ross, chairman of Related Companies, the developer that owns One Union Square South, “This initiative will encourage everybody to join us in fighting for the future of our planet.” Others claiming the initiative was pointless when the corporations responsible for the climate crisis have no intentions of cutting back their carbon emissions, and that this was simply psychologically torturing ‘common folk’ in the name of ‘awareness’. Is it in any way fair for said corporations to pressure ‘common folk’ into becoming more environmentally friendly throughout their lives, whether that means using fewer plastic bags or using paper straws? In the grand scheme of things can the same amount of responsibility be expected from the average citizen and the large corporations? Is it not the endless capitalist cycle that inevitably demands the average citizen to consume as much product as possible with no regard for its effects on the planet?

As displayed on the Metronome: “The Earth has a Deadline,” but who has to meet it?”