An Individual’s Approach on Combating Climate Change

It’s easy to underestimate the emergence of the 6th Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report as a culmination of findings that technically didn’t bring anything new to the table. The worsening weather around the globe pretty much shows us visual proof that our planet isn’t faring any better; the report gave us accurate details of how all of this is going down.

A run-down of the report, which was released on August 7, 2021, emphasized the concerns of scientists and experts that the planet may see a rise of 1.5°C above industrial levels earlier than anticipated — and along with it, even worse weather phenomena than what we’re witnessing today. The temperature rise is attributed to human-induced causes like increased greenhouse gas emissions from individuals and industries alike, as well as the lack of enthusiasm from a multitude of parties in finding environmentally safe alternatives, and most importantly, the disregard for the planet itself — by wiping out our natural allies that help mitigate these emissions.

As the world turns to the upcoming COP26 summit — scheduled to be held in Glasgow by the end of October this year — most of us have a general understanding of how the scenario would play out: raise issues, discuss solutions, pledge on those solutions… rinse and repeat. Whether they stay entirely true to those pledges remains vague more often than not; and even if they do, unforeseen circumstances outside of their environmental blueprints can always have the potential to…