So many people choose not to involve themselves in politics because they do not feel educated enough, or are simply not interested. I understand politics can be confusing, annoying, stressful and downright depressing to pay attention to. But at this point, not voting in the presidential election shows not only your ignorance, but your privilege of being able to not care.
What you should realize is that no one is privileged enough to ignore politics — your lack of interest in the future of this country impacts people all over the world. Greedy politicians have made it their mission to disprove the science of climate change in order to keep their pockets lined with gas and oil money.
By not actively voting against these people who care only for money and not for the future of this planet or human life, you are choosing to harm more people with your complicit behavior. Blissful ignorance is no longer an option when it is scientifically proven that our planet is warming and that dangerous effects are already taking place.
Right now, the entire West Coast is on fire. How can you look at the post-apocalyptic scenes in California and Oregon and choose to ignore what is causing them?
It is undeniable that these extreme fires are a direct result of climate change. A CNN article reported this month that since the 1970s, the size of California wildfires has increased by 800 percent, and the annual area of burned land has increased by nearly 500 percent.
A climate scientist at UCLA and research fellow at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Daniel Swain, said in the article that human-caused climate change has created higher temperature extremes. The drier vegetation that has resulted are sparking more forest fires.
Swain discussed just a fraction of the science on climate change and how it creates more severe weather all over the world. These wildfires are a direct result of science, a demonstration of global warming right in front of our eyes. Yet, people are still sticking their heads in the sand.
This week, President Donald Trump finally flew to California and acknowledged the West Coast wildfires, which have burned millions of acres and killed at least 27 people. He did not acknowledge it the correct way, however.
With the aid of his top environmental advisor, California Gov.governor Gavin Newsom urged Trump to accept that these fires are a part of climate change: we will continue to see global warming effects such as these worsen as he ignores the science. Instead of listening to them and admitting that these fires are a symptom of climate change, Trump blamed it on poor forest management.
Our president is a man who does not care about science, or about the fact that natural disasters are continuing to worsen. This November, you have the choice to vote for someone who will exacerbate climate change by continuously denying its existence or someone who acknowledges that science is real and intends to do something about it.
If you choose to stay home on Election Day, I hope you can live with the fact that you choose to disregard the future of our planet and the millions of lives climate change will impact. You will have helped Trump win a second term, and every harmful environmental policy he enacts was enabled by you choosing to be ignorant and complicit.
We are already far behind in our fight against climate change, thanks to the last four years that took us backward instead of forward. You need to get out and vote in November — the future of the planet is quite literally in your hands.
