Humans are the Cause & Solution
I was recently invited to take a new Climate Stewardship course taught by Dr. Barrows, an ecologist at the University of California Riverside in Palm Desert. Intrigued by the subject, I joined the course and quickly found myself immersed in a fast-paced, eye-opening exploration of anthropogenic climate change.
The course made one thing crystal clear: humans have caused climate change by releasing excessive CO2 into the atmosphere. Unlike the natural CO2 that sustains life, "rampant" CO2 comes from burning fossil fuels, creating a thick atmospheric blanket that traps heat and accelerates global warming.
Nature is trying to fight back—oceans are absorbing more CO2 than ever, but this is leading to ocean acidification. It's like the ocean is developing osteoporosis, weakening coral reefs and marine life structures as their carbon-based exoskeletons struggle to form in increasingly acidic waters.
As I delved deeper into the material, I, along with my fellow students, found ourselves overwhelmed by the extent of environmental degradation caused by our unsustainable lifestyle. It was even harder to hear the stories of scientists who are deeply depressed, having spent decades raising the alarm and offering solutions, only to see their warnings largely ignored by governments and institutions.
The hard truth we must face is that the responsibility to act lies with us as individuals. We cannot afford to wait for those in power to take action. We must take the initiative and make the choices that will create positive change today. If we don’t, it will be too late for future generations. While humans are the cause of climate change, we are also the key to the solution.