Humans Caused Climate Change. Humans Have to Fix It.
Written by: Da'Shaun Harrison
Since the mid-1800s, rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide has increased. This phenomenon, along with other drastic environmental shifts, is referred to as climate change. Climate change, as defined by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), is a change in Earth’s climate that is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity. An example of this is the incessant deforestation and burning of fossil fuels that humans have continued for decades. Trees absorb carbon dioxide, a gas that traps heat, and thus sends this gas into the atmosphere when they are destroyed. This is referred to as the greenhouse effect. Too much or too little of the greenhouse effect can make a planet uninhabitable. According to NASA, most scientists agree that it is the human expansion of the greenhouse effect that is causing climate change. For the past couple of centuries, climate scientists have researched and documented evidence proving that humans are the cause for this shift in climate that is threatening all forms of life. And while there are solutions, the inundating amount of damage done to the Earth that has led to this massive, catastrophic wave of climate change — damage fueled by imperialism and capitalism — must be explored first.
The pursuit of oil is a leading cause of war. Western imperialist nations, such as the United States, have invaded entire countries and terrorized whole nations to possess what has proven to be one of the most powerful resources known to humankind. It is not oil, alone, that has caused war, but rather the need for the United States to maintain its position as the power machine that controls the rest of the world. As proven by former President George W. Bush through the invasion of Iraq, America retains its global hegemonic power by ‘convincing’ — whereby I mean demanding through impeding on countries’ social and political freedoms — other states to support its foreign and economic policies influenced by geographical components. As I once wrote, imperialism — though not inextricably so — is directly tied to capitalism. The United States will do what it must to preserve the power it wields through control of capital, even if that means the empire is sustained through military force.
