Many people have become tired of the rhetoric surrounding the election, especially amid the crisis of COVID-19. There are many things the candidates have to wrestle with, at least two of which shouldn’t be the source of political divisiveness: climate change and COVID-19.
Both topics are worthy of discussion because they are both issues that could destroy us if we are not careful, but one thing I have noticed is the way these issues have become political, rhetorical issues rather than, as they should be, factual ones.
According to National Geographic, greenhouse gases have been heating the Earth dating back as early as 1956. The dangers of climate change were known before we even had the evidence to prove its existence.
Since then, we have had many reasons to believe in this phenomenon, ranging from studies by NASA to simply feeling the change in the temperature outside. There is no good reason to believe this is some political conspiracy; the government would likely lose money from decreasing oil emissions because it would be funding green energy and losing taxes from oil.
The same goes for mask-wearing during the COVID outbreak. For some reason, people have decided to give this simple act of protection a political spin so they can justify their selfishness. Yet again, science proves the opposite of what people would choose to believe; not only has the CDC issued guidelines based on their studies, but there is also the backing of common sense.
Doctors have been wearing masks for over a hundred years. Why? To prevent disease from infecting the patient. If any of these anti-maskers had seen their surgeon performing on them without a mask or gloves before this pandemic, they would have lost their minds.
Both of these issues have been twisted into a discussion of individual rights against the power of the government. However, both of these issues supersede the rights of the individual as they impact literally every human on the planet.
This applies most obviously to climate change, because the heating of the planet will change the temperature, water levels, animal populations and a myriad of other global factors, but COVID-19 carries a similar risk when it is politicized. If we allow the virus to continue to spread, many people will die but the fault of people who refuse to use their masks will be a contributing factor.
If we continue to slow down the progress of movements for the sake of people who believe it infringes their rights, the rights of life and safety will be taken from those who had no say in the discussion. Future generations will be hurt by the damage of climate change, and the young and the old will be killed by a virus. In order to progress as a species, we must acknowledge science and see that there are problems that need to be fixed. The climate is able to bounce back from this if we act soon enough, and the virus can be slowed down if we all work together for our collective safety. Once we all look past our pride, we can change our world for the better.
