Here we are. Report after report and study after study later, and it seems we just cannot learn a lesson. Climate change has been a hot topic for the past decade, and yet we have seen little productive change in reversing the effects humans have on this planet. According to reports from The Washington Post, the Associated Press and others, it has been found that global carbon emissions will reach an all-time high in 2018. The Washington Post article titled “‘We are in trouble.’ Global carbon emissions reached a new record high in 2018”, written by Brady Dennis and Chris Mooney, said the numbers are not looking optimistic.

“Between 2014 and 2016, emissions remained largely flat, leading to hopes that the world was beginning to turn a corner. Those hopes have been dashed,” Dennis and Mooney write.

“In 2017, global emissions grew 1.6 percent. The rise in 2018 is projected to be 2.7 percent.” Whatever political party or candidate you side with, this is a problem. The decisions major world powers, including America, make in the coming years surrounding this issue will affect the world as we know it forever.

Climate change is not a political issue; as soon as we make it one we all lose. Real changes have to be made on a worldwide, massive scale to save future generations and the planet itself.

Believe what you will, but do not let those beliefs ruin the future of the world. We need cooperation and togetherness, which these statistics show are not prevalent in this issue yet. Climate change should not be a Republican versus Democrat issue. For any real change to happen, party lines need to be forgotten and the good of the world needs to be put first.

Climate change is real and it is not going anywhere soon; it is all of our jobs to rally for legislation that is aimed at reversing the negative effects of climate change, or at least trying to reduce them.

Only through goodwill and cooperation will humanity have any hope for the future, it is our job to start the trend of taking climate change seriously and start actually doing something about it.