I take immense pride in my recycling record. I go out of my way to bring reusable bags to go grocery shopping. I always turn the lights off when I leave a room. I thought I was the green queen.
Then I met Bill McKibben. He's an environmental journalist-turned-activist who has actively been protesting the Keystone XL Pipeline. He regularly writes for big name publications - Slate, The Atlantic, and Mother Jones to name a few. He had a piece published in The Boston Globe this week. McKibben is the real deal.
He's also been arrested. McKibben was jailed for three days for organizing an environmental protest --- an unlikely fate for a seemingly soft-spoken man.
I met McKibben last Wednesday when he came for a lecture about his environmental activism. I was lucky enough to be part of his press conference with some other student media. I got to ask him about the representation of climate change in the media, further protesting plans, and how Congress can help prevent climate change.
It was when he talked about the very real severity of carbon emission levels that it finally hit me - I'm not doing enough. In fact, my recycling and energy efficient light bulbs are hardly making a dent.
It's our dependence on fossil fuels that's really going to screw us over. And I don't just mean Miami, Ohio, or even America. Globally, humans are addicted to crude oil and that's slowly destroying our planet.
The technology for sustainable options like solar panels and wind energy is available. Heck, some of these are even implemented at Miami. We've got geothermal energy on Western Campus.
Electric cars are becoming mainstream, though admittedly not perfect yet. Even so, there are fuel-efficient models that don't require as many stops at the gas station. Bonus: easy on your wallets and the planet.
Yet here we are, driving our cars half a mile to class and collectively burning through nearly 20 million barrels of oil daily. For the old and middle-aged (sorry, professors), climate change doesn't pose an immediate threat. You'll be long gone before the world melts. But my peers, we won't. The doom is impending.
To make any kind of change, we need widespread action. Quite frankly, this gridlocked Congress isn't going to get anything done. Climate change has, unfortunately, become a partisan issue. The oil industry pours millions of dollars into campaigns and lobbyists, making it politically challenging to even consider emissions-reducing legislation.
Bill McKibben wants us to get organized. Youth and college students may feel limited in their voices. One person can't face Exxon Mobil (and other offenders) alone. But fear not. There is immense strength in numbers, and our numbers are huge.
We have the ability to organize. With the masses on our side, we can help prevent measures that further damage our Earth. We can actively work against the companies that want to continue to feed our reliance on oil for the sake of profits.
The biggest assets we have in making significant changes are each other. Any bottles we recycle in the process are just a bonus.
Greta Hallberg
hallbegm@miamioh.edu