Over the course of this project, I've learned a lot about climate change as a result of cataloguing all of Maine's endangered species. I grew attached to Maine's beautiful biodiversity. With every animal I wrote on, I felt a drive to do something. To save these creatures before its too late. Creatures like the Rusty-Patch Bumblebee, whose numbers only span around 400. Animals like the the Atlantic Salmon, whose numbers are in the millions, but are rapidly declining in Maine. For my research on every animal in between, I sought to find out what exactly was happening, and what I could do to help.
Those familiar with EndangeredMaine will know where this is going. There has been a common theme with each new article published, that being the cause of an animal's extinction having to do with the ongoing climate crisis. In fact, there are only two animals on the EndangeredMaine species list that are not going extinct due to climate change, but a new, frightening virus.
This leads me to the Saltmarsh Sparrow, a very small creature with dwindling numbers all across the state of Maine.
In researching this creature, I was particularly concerned with the why. Why are these birds dying in rapid numbers, and what can we do to stop it? When I looked up the answer, I was met with a familiar cause: climate change. This, paired with beach housing development are the main causes of the songbird's demise.
Now listen, Americans know climate change is happening (for the most part). According to Yale's Climate Communication Organization, 72% of Americans believe that climate change is real. According to the same study, 65% of them are worried about it, and 71% believe it will harm future generations.
However, something caught my eye. The survey states that 70% of those surveyed believe that corporations should do more to prevent global warming. This got me thinking.
"You know..... I'm not building houses on beaches."
Not the most profound of revalations, but the question it inspired set me on a path to discovering what we can really do to prevent climate change. This question was simple.
"Am I doing climate change?"
The answer is almost certainly yes. I drive a car to work and university, I don't typically recycle, Hell, I use plastic straws. Does this make me a terrible person? Have I become very thing I sought to destroy? When the Saltmarsh Sparrow steps up to the executioners block, will I be the one holding the axe? These questions plagued my mind. Moreso, they changed my actions. While I didn't exactly sell my car for a bike to take on the six-mile drive to work, I began to consider every day how my actions impacted the world around me. On days where I wanted to drive to the grocery store minutes from my house, I chose to walk instead. I began saving my cans to return, and, yes, I bought a pack of reusable straws.
But my thoughts drifted back to the Saltmarsh Sparrow. I also began to consider the Piping Plover, who I wrote about a few weeks ago and faces many of the same struggles as the Saltmarsh Sparrow as a fellow beach bird. I could buy as many reusable straws as I want, but there will always be people building houses on beaches. What did I have to offer the Saltmarsh Sparrow but a bag of aluminum cans and a prayer?
At the risk of sounding like another angry blogger shaking my fist at the sky, this is not to say that individual action does not help humanity. Far from it, as it turns out. Studies have shown that if the United States were to get 75% of its population to recycle, over a million and a half new jobs would be created. If 35% of the world had bikes as their primary method of transportation, world emissions equivalent to the emissions of the entire country of Germany's emissions would decrease. The average carbon footprint of every American citizen is 16 tons. If we were able to decrease this by even the smallest amount, we would be in a better spot.
But for every solution, there lies a roadblock. According to new studies, only 9% of recycled items globally actually get "recycled." The United States has a severe walkability problem, with only .07% of land in the United States being walkable metropolitan areas, where the average person can walk to purchase groceries, get a bite to eat, or walk to work. This is not even to mention the growing number of cyclist fatalities as a result of prioritizing personal vehicular travel.
"...People moving and getting around by foot and by bike is an afterthought, you know, if thought about at all," said League of American Biciclists executive director in an NPR interview.
This leads us to our conclusion, something I alluded to in a graph attached to last week's article. It is a measurable fact that the leading perpetrators of climate change are major corporations and land developers. Sure, I could spend my entire life driving unnecessarily, generating waste, using plastic. But I'll never be giving the order to demolish a football field's worth of trees, an act that happens in the world every two seconds. I'll never send out the order to build a pipeline that pollutes drinking water and marine habitats. I'll never push a Saltmarsh Sparrow out of its home in favor of building a beach condo that will inevitably be destroyed by rising sea levels caused by my very own reckless abandon.
The Climate Accountability Institute recently released this graph-- represented via GIF below-- naming the agencies responsible for the largest amounts of carbon emissions
In truth, though, we don't need a graph to show us that corporations, land developers, manufacturers and legislators are the ones responsible for the majority of carbon emissions. Its no surprise that carbon emissions drastically increase following the industrial revolution and the birth of manufacturing. After regulations were enacted to heal the ozone layer, we
When we see legislation making a noticable improvement to our ecosystem and helping to combat the effects of climate change, it is clear what the answer is when tasked with the question "what can I do?"
The answer is to consider the Saltmarsh Sparrow. To consider the voiceless, the fuzzy, feathery first victims of climate change that are sure to not be the last. To demand improvement in any way you can. Advocating for policy change, legislation, contacting your local officials. This is the work we must do to combat climate change, and many ways, it feels infinitely harder. If I can buy a reusable water bottle and refuse to consider the metric tons of carbon emissions being pumped into our atmosphere, I don't have to think about the people that allow it.
But we have seen that change is possible. Through activism, outreach, education, voting, change is attainable. Do it for the good of humanity. And if not for humanity, do it for the Saltmarsh Sparrow.