Earth is facing serious problems caused by our actions. Due to this, some people think that to survive as a species we need to find a different planet that can support life, because in the future Earth will be uninhabitable. I completely disagree with this idea, as it is our activities that have caused the problems in the first place. Therefore, we have the responsibility to fix these problems. To do this, we can transition to more clean sources of energy and start and accelerate the process of cleaning up our pollution.
In today’s heavily industrialized society, the biggest contributor to pollution is the fuel we use to generate energy. Through the burning of coal and other gases, we release harmful substances into the atmosphere, trapping heat, thus accelerating global warming. There are many solutions and workarounds to this problem, such as using processed and better quality fuels, but at the core, the issue lies in our overreliance on this method of generating energy. So, we can encourage and regulate the use of renewable sources of clean energy, such as wind, water, and nuclear power plants. For example, for the last decade, Germany has been transitioning to clean energy, building tens of thousands of wind turbines that will power more than half the country in the near future.
Furthermore, even if we stop climate change and global warming, we also need to clean up our already present pollution. We have polluted the Earth in more ways than one, but the biggest offender is air pollution. Carbon dioxide and other residues of gases in the air not only harm us through respiration, but they also damage the ozone layer, making us vulnerable to deadly rays originating from the sun. These rays cause cancer, autoimmune, and other diseases, as well as damaging our genes. To combat this, we can reduce our carbon emissions. A great example of how we can do this is The Paris Agreement, a regulatory protocol signed by 195 countries, that dictates and bans the usage of certain types of greenhouse gases and coal. Through this, air quality worldwide has improved significantly, and the ozone layer has been healing, reducing global warming.
In conclusion, with these positive developments in the right direction, I see no reason why we can’t reverse the problems we face and move into a more green and eco-friendly societal norm and way of life. Therefore, I disagree with the belief that we need to look for another planet to live on, as Earth will be uninhabitable, because we are not too late to fix it.