In her book, This Changes Everything, Naomi Klein points out how our society’s fixation on capital wealth and normalization of ignorance towards climate change deters us from making the appropriate, greener changes to our society’s ways. However, one of her key points is that we, as the general public, have the power to influence the government as long as we are educated and make it clear to the political elites that climate change is a crisis that we care deeply about. In her book, Klein says, “But we need not be spectators in this: politicians aren’t the only ones with the power to declare a crisis. Mass movements of regular people can declare one too” (Klein 6). This quote in particular inspired the center of my piece– the protest against climate change in front of the capitol building. These protest signs are meant to show that public awareness and involvement is at the very center of environmental, political, and social change because taking action versus not taking action would lead to very different futures. If people are ignorant about the issues of carbon emissions, austerity politics, and the corporate greed that hides in the smoke of our pollutive ways, we will most definitely fall victims to climate change. On the other hand, large-scale change is possible as long as the government is willing to invest in more greener technologies, such as windmills, and create greener jobs which will help sustain the planet and also address the socioeconomic schism caused by capitalism. Moreover, in addition to having greener policies and restrictions on big businesses, Klein makes the point that we must be willing to make sacrifices to our current lifestyles in hope for a better future. Thus, it is important to remember that we as the people have the power to shape our future and obtain a cleaner, greener planet for those that will come after us.

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