Kelly Henderson, Climate Center Program Assistant, Washington, D.C.
If you are under the age of 40 (give or take), you may occasionally visit an entertainment website called Buzzfeed to help alleviate some your daily stressers and give you a good five minute laugh at something that is likely completely irrelevant to the workload sitting on your desk. Simply put, Buzzfeed is a short feed of popular photos or media clips that explain something in a visually captivating way. They oftentimes allow for an escape from daily work pains or just provide the opportunity for a good, short laugh. Need some examples? Sadly, I can relate to “26 Truths About Growing Up Without Cable,” and “Obama Asks The Hill To Bomb Syria, As Explained By ‘The Hills’,” actually helped me make sense of the whole Syria situation. The point is, these feeds gain a LOT of attention from young people- and on every topic you could possibly think of. That’s why I think that Senator Whitehouse is absolutely brilliant for posting “9 Reasons I Care About Climate Change – And You Should Too” on Buzzfeed yesterday morning.
(photo from buzzfeed.com)
The post provides a quick intro explaining how carbon pollution is continuing to drive global climate change and wreak havoc on our environment. It then leads into how the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently proposed limits on carbon pollution from new power plants and why President Obama’s plan to tackle climate change is worth supporting. The nine reasons Senator Whitehouse supports the President’s plan are practically the staple arguments why everyone should support a plan to address the changing climate, including the fact that just about NO ONE wants to stop drinking wine and coffee! Because seriously, changes in weather patterns, like severe precipitation events in New England and record-breaking drought in other regions, and the general trend of warmer weather are changing the nature of what we can grow and where. Check out what that means for wine makers and coffee growers.
The other eight reasons to support President Obama’s plan listed include everything from protecting public health (did you know that more than 1 in 9 children in Rhode Island suffer from asthma?), to keeping cities (and states) above water (sea level rise is real!), to acknowledging that extreme weather events are becoming more and more frequent and that taking chances around them may not be the smartest move (as depicted by Clint Eastwood). I think Senator Whitehouse does a pretty good job at covering all the bases here.
What is most fascinating to me is that this Buzzfeed was not only created to be a source of entertainment, but also a source of knowledge. The creators were able to successfully capture the attention of likely thousands of viewers while also getting an important message across by referencing examples of things that hit home to many people (such as losing coffee and wine, or having their homes inundated with water). Most importantly, it concludes on a positive note giving its viewers hope, saying “We can stop [climate change].”
We know that man-made carbon emissions are a major contributor to climate change and reducing carbon pollution can slow the rate at which climate change occurs, and even start to reverse some of its effects. That means it’s time to take action and let the EPA know that we support their decision to put limits on carbon pollution from new power plants.
You can take that action here.
