Imagining our way forward

In 20 years, what do you hope the world will look like? Imagining what we want our future to look like is imperative to moving toward positive change. In this entry, I wrote about what I hope the world, specifically with reference to environmental policy and how climate change is addressed, looks like in 2040: 

In my eyes, the world is a better place because the problem perpetuating America’s greatest issues is being addressed. Big public corporations are moving toward renewable energy, dialogue of climate change has been injected into the American school curriculum, and the transfer to becoming net-zero has been concretized and is happening. What has driven all this is the movement from grief to agency as we discuss climate.

Big corporations are the primary foundation of climate change; what and how they produce influences consumers to purchase accordingly. According to a 2015 Guardian article, only 100 companies are responsible for 71% of global emissions. The practices of these companies influence consumerism and drive the economy to rely on unsustainable products and energy. Now, every cooperation on this list and more are actively pursuing plans to reduce their energy and to transfer to renewable sources. Their efforts have changed the dynamic of businesses and introduced the ESG (environmental, social, governance) Initiative to encourage more ethical investment by bringing diversity to boards to understand their environmental impact more dimensionally.

To spread a holistic perspective on the issue, the government now mandates environmental discussion within school curriculum. This manifests itself through word problems in math textbooks, ongoing discussion in history and English classes, and a climate change unit in biology. The government does not require a formal course in sustainability because of the logistics of adding another class. Rather, teachers are able to weave the subject into their syllabus organically. This mandate has successfully incorporated climate change into the dialogue of learning. Now, students are literate in climate change and therefore, able to hold conversations stimulated by agency rather than grief. 

These conversations have inspired average voters and political figures alike to break down goals into babysteps and follow through with the question, “What will the US look like in 20 years?” with, “What are we going to do today?” These changes are not demanding average people to change their behavior, but rather asking them to adapt to changes happening around them. For instance, more research is being done to increase the percent of ethanol in gasoline from 10% to 25%. Average people only have to comply with government initiatives that are gradually shaping individuals’ habits. Similarly, a portion of money originally set aside for military is now used to support climate migrants, and private cars and pick-up companies have decreased because of the increase in clean, reliable, affordable, quiet, and energy-efficient public transportation. It has already replaced hectic traffic of LA and New York, and state governments are working to make it free to everyone living in the city, just as it is in Tallinn, Estonia.

With all this, the issue of climate change is no longer clouded by other issues, but rather understood as a perpetrator to problems such as racism, sexism, and health care. Just as Damon Gameau, the creator of 2019 film, “2040,” envisions, the world can look a lot different if we look to where hope already exists, and these initiatives are helping spurr that attitude so that we may continue to push limits at a sustainable rate.