Sofia Rositani – Arts & Entertainment Editor
Roma Rositani – Photo Editor
The world has seven years before climate change cannot be reversed.
The university ranks high for being an ecofriendly campus under the category. A major contributor to that title is the GEMS club, the club has implemented compost and recycling bins in the Adanti Student Center and residence halls and also raise awareness about local New Haven events such as the climate march that happened Friday, Sept. 25.
The club has annual beach cleanups, student takes part, you are allowed to walk the beach and pick trash up,. Though it might not seem like relative to what is happening globally, the clubs entire view is making an impact no matter how small the actions are.
The purpose of the strike is to raise awareness on the global climate issue of today as well as the Geography, Environmental, and Marine Sciences club on campus.
There are multitude key factors of climate change. Believe it or not a major contributor is our meat production and consumption (animal agriculture), if you want to learn more about this topic, Cowspiracy is an eye-opening documentary.
Before seeing this documentary, I personally believed deforestation was one of the leading causes of climate change, but I was wrong. It completely explains how terrible animal farming is to the environment, whether that be cutting down trees for soy to feed the animals, or fast-food chains contributing to mass animal production farms.
By reducing your meat consumption, you reduce your carbon footprint, you waste less water, less food and you are not contributing to farms whom raise their cattle and or soy on land that has been connected to deforestation, which has also been connected to climate change. Everything connected to climate change is connected to meat production.
Climate change has been affecting the world since most of us were born. As of now, we have seven years until the effects of climate change are irreversible, according to a Forbes article that shows a “climate clock” in New York City.
“Earth has a deadline,” the LED screen flashes every few minutes. “And of today, Sept. 25, that deadline is about seven years and 97 days,” said Forbes.
Because climate change is such a hot topic with college students of our generation, it is no surprise that the campus offers multiple different resources associated with raising awareness about earth climate change.
This does not only affect the world, but also our health. India is the second most overpopulated country in the world, and due to the over population in rural areas, many of them have small shacks they live in with no toilets or electricity. According to Environmental Defense Fund, 70 percent of those who live in rural areas use stoves that burn firewood and dung.
“These stoves release smoke into Indian homes contributing to greenhouse gas pollution and putting the villagers at risk of diseases including lung cancer and pneumonia,” said the Environmental Defense Fund.
This organization is one of many that is trying to help join the fight against climate change.
A few ideas that are helping places in India include building solar paneled lights, changing the stoves they use, and showing them ways to ethically farm so it will not harm the land.
While there are ways that Southern is helping with the impact of climate change, there are so many other helpful ways they can work to create a larger community that is safe, clean, and can improve the land it is on.
