It's your home, so have your say

With the upcoming election find out how your values align with that of candidates

This election, make sure you have your say on how we react to climate change.

RECENTLY a friend recommended that I read a Forbes article about climate change.

In the piece, it quoted a Harvard University professor of atmospheric chemistry stating that due to our rising temperatures, by the year 2022, "the chance of having any permanent ice in the Artic is essentially zero”.

Now, I'm no scientist but it doesn't take a brainiac to realise that the environmental dangers facing our planet in our lifetimes are really, really scary.

So many of these factors are interrelated - rising temperatures in our atmosphere causes a rise in water temperature.

This then causes a ripple effect that negatively impacts on the entire marine ecosystem.

Without the health of our oceans, our entire planet, including ourselves, becomes deprived.

Personally, I really despise the stereotype of those who advocate for the protection of the environment as "far-left-wing hippies.”

But what I hate, even more, is the attitude that one person or one tiny change, "won't help a thing”, because that's the attitude that will doom us all.

I sit in a cafe and I watch people order a coffee to dine in but have it in a takeaway cup and my body heats with irritation.

I sat dumbfounded by the approval of a commercial development that will potentially threaten an entire species of turtle, that only returns to one particular beach where it was born to lay its eggs.

And my heart breaks watching the scenes of shark finning, whaling, plastic pollution, deforestation and other animals living in catastrophe, that so often flashes on our screens.

Every person can make a difference if we let ourselves become a little inconvenienced and open our minds to developing new habits.

One person using a single re-usable cup can stop hundreds of plastic coffee cups from getting dumped into landfill every year.

An entire office can stop thousands and a larger company may even stop hundreds of thousands.

It all comes down to that ripple effect.

With the upcoming election, there's an opportunity for you to have your say in how we react to these threats and environmental issues.

Keep yourself up-to-date with electoral coverage to understand how your vote can promote a positive ripple effect for climate change.

There's an abundance of resources, including the 2019 Climate Policy Scorecard, individual party websites or Votecompass.com, an online site developed by political scientists where you can align your values to that of candidates, whether it be environment related or not.

If you still don't think the issues facing our environment are as detrimental as many scientists, advocates and other experts say, then I encourage you to take a walk along your local beach and really pay attention to what is speckled along the shore.

You'll spot an abundance of unnatural plastic colours littering the beach right beside the bleached white coral washed ashore.

Originally published as It's your home, so have your say