What stresses me out more than covid?
It’s been a wild 18 months fam. I can’t remember a day that has gone by with out the word ‘Covid’ being uttered. Without the fear of this virus gripping the nation hanging over all of our heads like a dark cloud. At first I couldn’t sleep, I would read the news, my hands shaking. I’d get into deep rabbit holes on all aspects of covid and find myself reading peer reviewed science papers at 2am, googling every other word.
It started to affect my personal well being and my anxiety so I decided I needed to step away and put my nervous energy into something else. Something that I could give back to, something to put positive energy into. I started looking into another topic that had garnered my interest as a person in their early 30’s, Climate Change.
Well let me tell you, what was suppose to help me calm my thoughts and turn my energy towards a positive role in activism, left me at one point too depressed to get out of bed for a day. You want to talk about depressing? I went down a rabbit hole of acid rain, unprecedented drought, apocalyptic flooding, raging fires, dying coral, dying species, food shortages and the promise that this will all only get worse if we don’t act immediately. And even with that, it may already be too late.
This is a plea to do better. What you can do big or small can make a difference. Make sure you are voting for people who a) believe in climate change and b) list the ways they are going to help promote clean and green energy use. If you own a home, look into solar panels and geothermal energy use, it is really not as expensive as you would think and in the long run you will be saving money and helping the planet heal.
I was curious to know which countries were using the most renewable energy resources. Germany came in first at 12.7 % of renewable energy usage. Sweden was next at 10.9% and Spain was 3rd at 10.1%. The US was a paltry 10th at 4.3 %. In my research I also came across this graphic of the worlds largest solar power plants from SolarPower.Guide.
Solar power is quickly becoming a sought after an affordable form of renewable energy around the world. Experts predict that in the US alone, there will be a jump from the current 11% of total renewable energy to 48% by 2050. Right now only around 2% of the world’s energy is being generated by solar power, but with solar energy rapidly on the uprise, this is something all new homes and business’s should implement.
Next car you buy, think about emissions, next time you leave your faucet running, think about those who do not have access to clean drinking water. Put up some solar panels, plant some trees, maybe cut back on eating so much red meat. And for the love of God please stop littering.
