Politicians Should Hold The Climate Crisis With More Urgency

As a native Iowan since 2005, November meant a month of shoveling snow and groaning from the frigid winds. However, this year, even as the month ends, I am walking in the comfort of warm, autumn gales instead with barely visible frost on a fraction of my home’s roof. 

By the 2015 Paris Agreement, temperature rises are to stay well below 2 degrees celsius since the industrial age — the ideal to be below 1.5 degrees celsius. However, as of today, we are at 1.2 degrees celcius, a rather alarmingly high number. Yet none of my classmates nor the people around me discuss this in-depth, seeming rather indifferent to the problem, deeming it a natural course of life. This sentiment has also been often expressed in politicians, who are the key to such action. The climate crisis must be held with much more urgency. 

Surely, President Biden has made strides against this issue, like the Inflation Reduction Act that puts up to $370 billion dollars into environment-friendly technology like solar panels and hybrid vehicles. Recently, though, his absence at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai have not reflected these sentiments, as Biden campaigns with a “Moderate Policy” for the 2024 election because of the backlash against Biden’s supposed “radical green agenda” and his preoccupance with the wars. 

This is a risky take on such an urgent matter because of the looming 1.5 celcius that approaches us with Biden’s indifference to a cause that he had campaigned for and urged for great action. On the other hand, the sheer violence of the wars is, indeed, a draining topic that requires much work to be done. Even just recently, Biden has made surprise visits to Israel. However, that does not quite excuse him to simply disregard the climate crisis for another problem that both impact the world in the long run. Handling both the issues efficiently is something that Biden should have the competency to do if he ran for presidency at such an age. 

With politicians that had shown prior interest in the climate crisis now indifferent to the crisis, a wave of ignorant politicians, especially Republicans, are only exacerbating the much needed action against climate change. House Speaker Mike Johnson even states that he believes that the climate is changing because of “natural cycles over the span of the Earth’s history.” With such influential people saying these ignorant words, more and more people will start believing those views and continue downgrading the urgency of our climate crisis.

Such incidents are a reason why figures like the Sierra Club Executive Director Ben Jealous, raise their voices to say, “It should concern us all that someone with such extreme views…has such power and influence during a time when bold action is more critical than ever.” Especially because these figures are more than aware about the downfall of our climate, the idea that such figures are raising their voices with such strong language should be a warning factor to the climate crisis that has been averted by politicians during these times of political strife.

Although many will continue to claim that climate change is only natural and show helpless sentiments, taking action to protect our posterities is important. Such urgency should be expressed to political figures as soon as possible.

Works Cited:

Blackmore, Willie. “The New House Speaker Doesn’t Believe in Climate Change.” Washington Informer, vol. 59, no. 4, Nov. 2023, p. 24. EBSCOhost, research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=dd08aebf-e24d-3067-9567-b2086c2247f1.

Masters, Jeff, and Bob Henson. “With Global Warming of Just 1.2°C, Why Has the Weather Gotten so Extreme? » .” Yale Climate Connections, 6 Mar. 2023, yaleclimateconnections.org/2023/03/with-global-warming-of-just-1-2c-why-has-the-weather-gotten-so-extreme/.

Tankersley, Jim, and Lisa Friedman. “Biden’s Absence at Climate Summit Highlights His Fossil Fuel Conundrum.” The New York Times, 27 Nov. 2023, www.nytimes.com/2023/11/27/climate/biden-cop28-climate-dubai.html.

“The Paris Agreement | UNFCCC.” Unfccc, unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement. Accessed 18 Dec. 2023.

What High School is like in 2023

Image by Ames Community School District.

With glass plastered all over it, students both gawked and gagged at the new building’s rather interesting architecture. Overall, however, students were not very interested.

Still, despite the student body’s overall disinterest in Ames High School’s new building, the new building signified the end of the pandemic’s dark times. The early post-COVID years could easily be described as somber from the omnipresent depression, or awkward from a year’s worth of hiding away from society. This was exacerbated by the administration’s instability, a series of cigarette-trash can fires, and a major gun threat — it was reported that an AP Focus Physics class was left with five students from the original whopping thirty-two by the end of the day. 

Image by NorthStarFirepics

Similarly, even with the minimalistic, modern new building, most first impressions still surrounded the havoc in the summer of 2022 with the array of physical fights, bathroom drugs, and frequent replacement of administration. Such issues were indeed correlated to the 2021-2022 year, but sentiments regarding the situation began to change in 2022-2023: they were taken as a joke, a more positive perspective than the previous fear felt from the dire threats to school dynamics. The issues that were unique to Ames High School were dwindling, thus naturally, students faced more relatable school issues prevalent in many other schools throughout the United states as well as TikTok, a social media platform with a large teen demographic.

Moreover, even these humorous impressions started to wane as the student body’s focus shifted to new opportunities that ensued with increased club activities. One notable club was SACRE, a club which started with a few discussions and walkouts to branching out into multicultural fairs and summer leadership conferences.

Image by Ames High ICF on Instagram

This multicultural fair held last April 2023 was a revival of an event last held in 2019. From Ames Community students to faculty, the event was a major success with its three dance performances, cultural food stands, and welcoming, connective nature. Such events are truly a reflection of the students’ sentiments upon the new building, though unbeknownst to them. 

Now, the second year at Ames High School’s new building has commenced, and students have already noted the diminishing violence and drug cases. With the strong establishment of student council leadership and student body representatives at board meetings almost as soon as the new building came into sight, such students’ voices gradually started reaching the administration.

Although Ames still faces problems with administrative corruption, a common complaint of the teachers, the pandemic’s major crises have been averted as of today and continue to be mitigated through programs such as RULER Learning and the increasingly functional student government — a future to remain hopeful for.

What is RULER?

Read more about RULER

Blog Entry by Sarah Park, Ames High School, 8th period in AP Language and Composition