Cultural Apathy and Inertia Around Environmental Issues

The Ozone layer. One of the earliest and most visible indicators of climate change, the first of the hot button issues, caused by chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) which were the darling of the industry. By all accounts, the fact that the ozone depletion is on track to being reversed 1) should be a cause for celebration. Yet there are still plenty of reasons to worry, with global temperatures soaring 2) . Like all other aspects of policy, fake news and right wing agendas undermine climatology and demand frequent fact-checks 3) . At some point over the past decades however, the narrative of climate change and fading environments definitely seems to have been lost, with deforestation rates in Brazil spiking upwards aggressively and only coming down due to policy changes by new President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva last month 4) . However, much of the discourse around climate change has morphed

into one of need, conflated and tainted by association with developed countries. In the African continent for example, viewpoints regarding greener economies are intricately tied to the shadow of capitalism, and even the most willing participants are bottlenecked by a lack of resources and funding for green initiatives 5) .

Local Initiatives

Close to home, the Icelandic government has been a strong voice in leading the world towards better policies, with a wealth of studies commissioned and explained for the general populace 6) . Indeed, with its possible disruption to the fishing industry by acidification of the oceans, it is not surprising that the government has much to be concerned about. Indeed, even the industries in Iceland, though typically of the polluting kind (e.g. aluminium smelters) have taken decisive action towards undoing carbon emissions 7) . One might argue, then, that by and large climate change has been well accounted for, though facts 8) about climate change are routinely updated and it remains a major threat to human survival. The University has also hosted several symposia over the years on renewable energy resources including the hydrogen economy.

Rising Concerns

The real issue with climate change and environmental preservation is the timescale of its operation. In contrast to even the COVID-19 pandemic, which left much of the world devastated, the ill effects of climate change will remain an issue for decades or even centuries. Most people are ill-equipped to deal with such timescales, and even though a section of the youth have been adamant in their fight for the climate (exemplified by the work of the intrepid Greta Thunberg 9) ), our attention spans are decreasing with an increase in social media consumption 10) and climate change is increasingly among the list of topics to be delegated to a later time. This is disastrous. It cannot be understated that climate change and its effects, once they start coming into play, will not leave humanity with anything other than the option to flee. Earthquakes, droughts, even predicted, cannot be mitigated in any meaningful way. Unlike the pandemic which had a man-made solution, there is no single silver bullet to handle the ill effects of generational neglect for the environment.

Towards Stability

Given that regulations and policy go hand in hand, it would be best to find a way to agglomerate the best practices across countries. This is typically limited by trade-secrets and finances, but if the pandemic has shown anything, it is that the world is capable of coming together and sharing resources towards a common good. The time is now to make climate change that next cause. It is unfortunately no longer enough to have a series of national initiatives, and the interplay between disciplines is of extreme importance, as well as stronger controls for fake news when it comes to climate change and the environment.