The last 150 years of industrialization have brought disastrous changes to our planet and environment. Large factories, oil rigs, power plants, and fossil fuels have led to both technological advances in our society and harsh environmental disasters. We see these useful advancements in our everyday lives, but while we in first-world countries reap the benefits of industrialization, poorer nations deal with the consequences of our greed. So who has the power to stop this calamity? To make long-lasting effects to save the environment, we need long-term solutions and immediate action on a large scale. Individuals do not have the power to change the climate of the whole planet, so societal shifts and government interventions are vital to halt the climate crisis. The most important factors to consider in addressing climate change are what groups are most affected by the crisis and the changes we must make as a society, such as getting rid of fossil fuels.

Groups that have been most affected by climate change are low-income communities and poorer nations, so we need to consider the changes they want and need. The industrialization of wealthy nations relied on exploiting poorer nations, and our current capitalist system has continued to rely on this exploitation. While we in the first world countries have flourished, third world countries have dealt with the consequences of problems they never initiated. For example, Bangladesh has gone through some of the harshest weather changes due to climate change. As capitalism values profits over human rights, many U.S. companies have gone overseas to catch cheap labor in countries with lax labor laws and lower minimum wages. Bangladesh is one of these countries, and it is where many articles of clothing are produced. Many clothing factories have contributed to carbon emissions, and thousands work there despite the low wages to sustain family expenses. Due to the factories and other factors, Bangladesh has undergone severe heat waves, constantly reaching over 40 degrees Celsius,  threatening millions across the country and the region. The factory workers we rely on now face worsening environmental conditions on top of their already grueling and demanding work schedule. To stop global warming, we need to work with the countries and communities that are already facing a dire crisis. We owe it to them, especially after using them for our gains for centuries. For once, we should listen to what these places want, valuing them over our greed. This would be a collective solution as it benefits humanity globally. And, if we lessened the crisis in poorer nations, we would learn how to avert and deal with the crisis everywhere else in the globe, since there is no place on Earth where global warming hasn’t affected.

We should also consider the changes that need to be implemented on a large scale. Societal changes and government intervention are the forces that will give us a chance at saving humanity. As individuals, despite what has been told to us for decades, our contributions are meaningless if they don’t happen rapidly and more consistently than they do now. In a video by Kurzgesagt on global warming, it was said that even if we(the individual) cut out every single source of carbon emissions from our lives, we would halt global warming by no more than a few seconds. Because of this, we have to stop relying on the individual to reduce their carbon footprint. The biggest sources of carbon emissions are from the fossil fuel industry, which powers electricity, transportation, and other industries. Individual contributions will never reverse the carbon footprint of fossil fuels, so we need rapid disciplined societal changes alongside government interventions. The government should not be subsidizing and allowing the fossil fuel industry to harm our environment and our livelihoods. Changes the government should consider are moving their subsidies to an alternative, such as nuclear energy. If we combined government and societal action, we would finally move toward the progress we’ve been hoping for. As things stand, we are doomed to fail. So we have to start seriously and effectively considering the changes we need to make, to save humanity and the environment.

All in all, the most important factors to consider in addressing climate change are who has been most affected, and what carbon contributing factors we have to target as a society. There is still some hope when it comes to saving our climate. If we as a society truly want to see changes, we must carefully consider every factor contributing to climate change. Only then will we be able to avert this crisis.