Woo Hyo-eun

By Woo Hyo-eun

The human race has gone mad altogether. All a man thinks about is today ― whether one can put as much food in one's belly and hold as much money in his or her pocket as yesterday.

They don't think about tomorrow, even though it seems likely that tomorrow, they may find themselves as roasted as the chicken they managed to eat for lunch today.

The Bible tells of a raging fire in hell that will eventually devour everything when the time comes - that is, once people's sins reach the highest point ever in human history. And even if one isn't a devout Christian, it is easily conceivable that this is relatable to the situation we find ourselves in right about now:climatechange.

Climate change has always been an issue concerning the whole human race and the future of this planet. Yet even after decades of serious discussions and meetings, we as a people have not made any significant moves to cut back the gas that's about to squeeze the life out of all of us.

Many, including myself,would agree thatwe have had enough empty agreements and moral posturing, because these simply have failed to bring usany closer to safety.

We're still in danger and it is now very clear, in my opinion, that climate change summits are of no use anymore.Copenhagen, our last hope, has proven this. Sadly, when global powers and their leaders can't agree all together to make a decent commitment, campaigns by activists around the world seem, realistically thinking, useless as well.

So now it is time we realized that mere talking and carrots will never work in solving this urgent problem. It is time we realized thatsticks must be introduced into the situation.It's time we began thinking realistically. So let us now face the truth: We humans are too corrupt and selfish to be motivated by moral posturing and empty agreements.Therefore, we must come up with ways that our selfish nature cannot help but respond to.

Bjorn Lomborg, the director of the Copenhagen Consensus Centerand author of "Cool It" and "The Skeptical Environmentalist"states in his article "Beyond Copenhagen" in TIME magazine that "Instead of trying to make fossil fuels more expensive, we should focus on making alternative energy cheaper."

I agree with Lomborg's idea.The main reason nations such as China simply won't give in and take part in the global carbon diet is because they depend so much on fossil fuels and because turning to other energy sources to cut back emissions costs them way too much money. When it's so much cheaper for them to continue to use fossil fuels, there's no reason for them not to use them. Therefore, the only way to get them to use more alternative energy instead of fossil fuels is the reduction of prices ofalternative energy.

"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." Old sayings like this one don't always apply to everything. If all they care about is money, it seems only reasonable to use money to make them cut back on emissions.

Woo Hyo-eun is a freshman studying at Seoul Global High School. She can be contacted at lilmisswoox3@gmail.com.