Seeing Climate Change in Action is A Decent Catalyst To Find Solutions. Studying The Environment is More Important Than Ever
The prospect of climate change often seems to be a can to kick down the road for people to deal with in the future, having effects that won't be felt until some unspecified time, moments like the one in the photo below illustrate a more immediate problem that isn't for future generations. This photo was taken in the summer of 2020 from my home in San Francisco where I was throughout the COVID pandemic.
Its so easy to push off problems that don't seem that pertinent, I know that first hand, but this is a little more dire than procrastinating on an assignment for a class. Even before the day that this picture was taken I had experienced smoke days in high school during which we were told to stay home in order to avoid exposure to dangerous air contamination. I knew several people who lost their homes in wildfires including my own grandmother so I understand the gravity of situation just as many Californians. Though I had experienced something similar before this day was different than anything I had ever seen. When I woke up it was still dark out which I thought was strange especially when I checked my phone to find that it was half past nine. It stayed this apocalyptic orange hue for two days and personally was an inspiring in a horrific way.
During this same time I was considering what other path I could take as I had just decided that I was no longer going to be pursuing going to medical school, and then it hit me. One of the key reasons behind why I wanted to be a physician was the prospect of helping people and in the end you can get more bang for you buck by studying climate science if that is the goal. When I returned to UW I immediately began studying environmental biology rather than human physiology and got a role studying past climates in my research position. When thinking back I see this moment in particular as a catalyst that put the idea in my mind that I should and have the potential to help put us on the right track and since I have taken as many classes as I can to become more knowledgable on environmental science and the climate to achieve this goal.
When looking back for artifacts I saw this and thought that my story wouldn't be complete without including it as it carries so much weight. Every time I see it I feel like I am right back where I was in that moment, in the depths of the pandemic and yet I forgot that tens of thousands of people were dying each day and was afraid for a completely different reason. Something with that much power to cause existential crisis shouldn't just be forgotten about and far too often it is so if nothing else I feel like this should just serve as a reminder for other people that this is only the beginning.
"Although your mind's opaque try thinking more if just for your own sake. The future still looks good and you've got time to rectify all the things that you should."