Why I Keep on Writing About the Environment and the Climate Crisis
Photo from Africa-media
- Sao Phal Niseiy
- January 31, 2021 9:12 AM
From day to day, I am writing more and more about climate crisis and environmental issues. I keep on sharing it too on social media posts. Many have asked why I am doing that.
Honestly, I am not an environmentalist because it takes a lot of dedication and efforts to be one. But it doesn’t require to be an environmentalist to raise the subject. Technically, I am just a very concerned citizen and a journalist by profession who has an interest in environmental issues.
Through writing and sharing on environmental issues, what I hope for is to see friends share similar concern about the environment wellbeing and work together at some point to embolden an alteration of people’s behavior on a larger scale.
It simply is about promoting education, knowledge, understanding as well as actions undertaken by a group of individuals—the more influential, the better. Once we are knowledgeable, more and more people will be able to be considerate about the impacts they create on the environment and eventually speak for their own future.
For example, more people are increasingly taking part in anti-plastic campaigns in recent years because they concur that the society they are living in is being choked by plastic pollution. This fight is gaining momentum. This has to be kept going.
We need such a participation in other environmental activities, too. This can be wider and more frank talks among people in our country about the need for government policies that encourage investment in clean energy as well as government effective mechanisms to combat illegal logging and wildlife trade while fostering reforestation countrywide. With this, we can urge our government to do more to mitigate the climate crisis.
While stating this, I know many find such things tedious with a perception that it is impossible to protect the planet alone. There is a Cambodian proverb we commonly hear and I quote: “Don’t try to shoulder the Earth alone.”
This perspective has been well entrenched, and this hindered our positive thoughts that can drive a change in action of each individual. We strongly believe that we alone can’t make any difference, let alone addressing the climate crisis, which is a transboundary and global issue that requires more than 193 countries and territories worldwide to join hand.
This warrants a no-action, and we are living in a society where many people are taking the issue of environment for granted.
Let me say something. During the time I am speaking, we people just escaped from a discussion of our future or the future of our generation. We deny the fact that our lives have been threatened and the environmental wellbeing is being undermined. We don’t recognize the fact that we have a responsibility to make the world a better place, and of course it needs to get started by ourselves. And sadly, we also ignore that minimal change in our behavior can make a difference.
I admit I am not 100 percent able to reduce my carbon footprints. I still contribute to carbon emissions worldwide as I still eat meat and consume electricity generated from fossil fuel and other dirty energy sources. And I still use plastics.
However, what I can say is I am becoming more mindful and considerate. I can advocate more for the future of younger generations through my action, my articulation and writing. Speaking of clean energy sources, more green projects and climate impacts for example are what I focus on in the course of my writing and social media posts. With this, I try to keep on telling my colleagues, friends and family members why this actually matters, why our inaction, ignorance and culprit have made our future bleak as well as why a small change in the way we live really is critical.
Some might perceive that people who speak a lot about the environmental issues and are being critical of the government speak against development. They view those people as being antagonistic toward the country’s growth or, to use another word, an obstruction to development.
To be fair, nobody is seeking to impede development if that can be proved sustainable. What they do is just to make sure that any development will be carried out properly with least social and environmental impacts because the entire population will pay the price for what we are doing now.
Time to start caring about the environment
More than raising awareness, what we should acknowledge is that we can never expect a healthy living when the wellbeing of the environment is neglected.
Let me put this in a simple way. From driving plastic pollution to deforestation, to generating carbon footprint—one of the prominent drivers of the climate crisis—if you pause and think a little bit, you comprehend that you have been the culprit.
But we rarely question how our daily actions have been impacting the environment, we don’t really care why this is worth questioning because we are too busy fulfilling our own needs and demands. We become ignorant and, to a certain extent, in denial.
More than that, we never stop to reflect on what we can do differently to help heal the environment and Planet Earth. Speaking of solving existential environmental problems, a small number of us have confidence in the possibility while many still have moments of depression and distress.
It is because, as I mentioned earlier, we disdain a small act because we don’t believe that it can make a big difference, and we tend to think that only bigger steps taken by clusters of nations, and not every individual, can revolutionize enormous things like the environment.
Let’s filter our pessimistic minds and alter our actions. 2020 has already taught us how important nature is and how human destructive behaviors toward nature are costing us our future. What I want to emphasize is that, if we don’t act and foster our behavioral change, there will be more dreadfully unprecedented environmental ramifications. It is predictable that the outbreak of pandemics like COVID-19 will be more frequent in the future as they are more products of nature caused by human activities.
So that having us begin to care about the well-being of our nature and environment is really crucial to reverse the trend for one and for all.
A small step we can begin with is to reduce our daily plastic use and cut down our carbon footprints in electricity consumption as well as in transportation. What can follow is teaching people around us to be aware of the desperate need for more considerate actions towards the environment. I truly believe that only education can generate an everlasting result.
Considering everything, it is high time to set a good example for younger generations to everlastingly take care of the environment. Remember that we don’t own this world exclusively, but we literally owe the generations to come a healthy and beautiful future.
