Climate Change

Hello my lovelies!

I am back but, with a rather different blog post for you today, don't worry there will be a very traditional Katherine Lottie post coming up in the next few days! I just wanted to take a moment to talk about something that has been on my mind recently, please bear with me as once I started writing I couldn't seem to stop and consequently its a rather long post!

Over the last few weeks, it seems like the world has descended into chaos, with multiple terrorist attacks, climate change talks and never ending gun shootings in America. You would be forgiven for thinking we will never return to the normalcy we once treasured so dearly.

Normalcy for me, being an average teenage girl involves studying, nights out with friends, day-dreaming and falling asleep in class (although that is obviously on a very rare occasion…). I also have an untamed urge to have my opinion known. Like many teenagers I become agitated and frustrated when I can’t get something off my chest.

However, its during times like these, I really value the voice I have.

As, I have a right to speak.

A right to an education.

A right to life.

Without these things, I couldn't have my blog, I couldn't be sat here at my desk studying at an excellent university or have seen so much of the world at such a young age.

Although whilst I have a right to speak, I sometimes question whether my small voice by itself can make a difference. Especially on key issues at the moment. 

Take for instance, Climate change.

What is it?

Well, the dictionary defines it as a large scale and long-term shift in the planet’s weather patterns or average temperatures. Consequently it is the temperature rising by 0.89 °c from 1901 to 2012, the Greenland and Icelandic ice sheets melting at an unprecedented rate and the sea level rising by 19cm across the globe.

We cannot ignore it, it is happening. Just because the change is not dramatic at the moment, it doesn’t mean we can act like it doesn’t exist.
I am from the next generation; Climate change will affect me directly, and it will affect my cousins, my future husband and most of all my children. At worst it could cause our world to descend into catastrophe.

And I’d rather that didn’t happen, for I quite like living!

But I can't ignore the facts. The Climate change report from the Met Office showed that the ice caps are melting mainly as a result of human activity; scientist James Lovelock illustrates with his theory of Gaia- that the earth is a self-regulating system and as such putting stress on this system will strain the earth;  ‘The National Snow and Ice Data Centre’ attest that the Greenland ice sheet has seen the daily melt extent in June 2014 surging to nearly 40% of the ice surface area by the middle of the month.

Climate change is festering like a malignant tumour ready to strike and unfortunately we are not doing enough to stop it. Rather we seem to be encouraging it, destroying the rainforests, building on the most fertile agricultural land, using any means to extract energy such as fracking.

But if we come together, if we share a voice, then maybe, just maybe we our small voices can become one big voice. We can even support our governments discussing Climate change in Paris at this very moment.

I found this amazing website called Represent.cc which lets you vote and offer your opinion on key topics of the moment. Its just a small step but if you sign up and share it amongst your friends, you never know, it could become the difference between nothing and action!

It is these little things that make a difference. I know it’s a cheesy line but it is true.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this little insight into the innermost workings of a teenagers brain! I hope you have evening and I shall see you very soon!

Goodbye!