Why are we not pushing to do more?

(interesting video that goes with this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkZ7BJQupVA)

We all know money and power are very big reasons but I don't think Donald Trump is reading this so I don't think I have to go into much detail about those reasons. Anyway, today we are going to look through a few different ones...

The mindset of 'why should I'

You and I and even the rich and powerful wouldn't do destroy our planet if they could wrap their own heads around what they can do and frankly why should they do it. It is too common for people to think that they shouldn't have to clean up after themselves or anybody else. It is also scarily common to have a mindset of 'what I do won't even matter' and such and such and this isn't helped by the media. The worst thing is these thoughts stick in the back of your mind and it stops us making drastic changes that can actually help solve the problem. Another problem with making drastic changes is the feeling it won't be worth it especially with the time and effort it takes and people don't think of the long term benefits enough either.

People just not knowing or sometimes wilful ignorance

For example, On June 1, 2017, United States President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. would stop all participation in the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation. He’s doing this because he thinks that it will hold the US back more than other countries. The lies spread by Exxon and others have led to a lot of sceptics (people who doubt climate change), as you can see through Trump and his followers. But for the world, when estimating countries populations from a 2008 World Bank population estimate, 61% of people worldwide were aware of global warming, with developed countries being more aware than developing, with Africa the least aware. The people who thought of it as a threat was less than half at only 47%.

Latin America and developed countries in Asia led the belief that climate change was a result of human activities, while Africa, parts of Asia and the Middle East, and countries from the Former Soviet Union led in the belief that it was natural.

Awareness often translates to concern, although of those aware, some people in Europe and developed countries in Asia perceived global warming as a greater threat than others. In North America, 61% of Americans say they are concerned about climate change, that is 30% lower than Mexico (at 91%) and 20% lower than Canada (at 81%), and, in the US only 41% believe that climate change could impact them personally. Nonetheless, 70% of Americans believe that environmental protections are more important than economic growth according to a Yale climate opinion study (this means that yes, the people of the USA are against Trump's idea of stepping out of the Paris agreement).

So what about Ireland well, a new EU survey shows that 91% of Irish respondents consider climate change to be a serious problem with 68% considering it a very serious problem. This compares to an EU average of 92% and a high of 97% in Greece. The survey, which was carried out in March, also shows that 95% of Irish respondents take personal action to fight climate change, above the EU average of 90%. But, all in all, our government is not reaching its goals fast enough and although our goal is to have no carbon emissions by 2050 things are pretty much business as usual with not a lot being done. So as stated above, most of us do know climate change as a serious threat so why don't we, the people do something about it and be the ones to reduce our own carbon emissions and fight against the government for being so corrupt and careless of our futures? That is what we need.