Bill Clinton states that he believes that climate change is so hard for people to grasp because the concept of the future itself is “abstract”. This human inability to completely understand the seemingly unseen and unknown is a precise explanation as to why implementing personal level lifestyle changes has been such a challenge. Until climate change and all the resulting effects become an unavoidable truth in a person’s, it is quite impossible to move them to make changes. However, where I think this idea is lacking is assuming that once people grasp the future and accept climate change, then that will be all it takes to motivate them to change. Even in our class, a class full of people dedicated to learning about environmental issues plaguing our generation, it is hard make environmentally conscious decisions.

Along with having faith in the nearing future, it is also imperative that people are aware that climate change does not just mean a slight raise in their hometown’s temperature; the effects of climate change are unmeasurable. The human and environment not being connected was an idea that was quickly debunked by our course; however, it is still a very prominent thought that impacts the way in which common people and politicians view climate change. If they acknowledge climate change at all that is. Once people are able to see that the human and the environment are indeed connected, they will be able to not only accept that human action does in fact have an impact on the environment, but they will also be able to understand the a changing environment means changes for human society and culture. If we continue down the same path that we are on now, the effects of changing temperature will make natural disasters worse on human civilization, cities we know now will be underwater, displacing thousands of people, and the overall quality of life will decrease.

It is also important to highlight that the poorest people in each nation will feel the effects of these changes first. This is another reason governments and institutions have yet to make clear and powerful efforts towards making the environment a priority. While the poor will be hit first, due to the lack of money or resources to deal with the imminent natural disasters and rise in cost of resources, the effects will eventually reach the very rich. The earth is the habitat for ALL people and climate change and its effects do not care who you are or how much money you have. Money can only buy you so much time, but until people see that these effects are not poor-sensitive the current path of destruction will continue.