This year, we have seen an evolving attitude towards climate change through the occurrence of several international protests which seek for actions that will reduce global warming. The face of this movement has been 16-year-old Greta Thunberg who has traveled around the world to take part in these climate strikes. Though Greta’s campaign has clearly spread awareness throughout the world, we cannot know at this point how much of an impact her movement has made on the actual state of Earth’s warming.

Climate strikes and protests can only influence people to change their habits and lifestyles so much. In order to see a significant change, policies and legislation must be changed. Greta is clearly aware of this as she has attended conferences like the UN Climate Action Summit in 2019 and addressed government leaders to implement measures that would significantly reduce climate change. Some argue that federal legislation is required to limit the effect of environmentally hazardous industries, but there are also significant changes that can be made on the provincial or municipal level.

London is the largest city in Ontario that has yet to adopt a compost collection program; the addition of such a program could help reduce landfill waste, which produces methane, a greenhouse gas. Moreover, if more of the municipalities lacking such a system adopted one, there could be greater change. Implementing programs are nevertheless not enough. For example, in 2016, in the Waterloo Region, it was reported that an estimated 53% of compostable material was being thrown away rather than placed into a green bin. This statistic was prevalent even after several years of having a green bin program. In 2017, bi-weekly garbage collection was implemented in order to compel greater participation in the compost collection program. 

Furthermore, there cannot just be an opportunity to do better. Legislation must enforce environmentally friendly principles in order to see significant changes occur. In 1987, the Montreal Protocol was established, and this treaty phased out substances like chlorofluorocarbon gases which contributed to depletion of the ozone layer. The significant depletion of ozone around Antarctica was called the “ozone hole.” The treaty aimed to reduce ozone depletion and has succeeded greatly: in 2019, the ozone hole was the smallest ever recorded. 

There are many governments who have already implemented other policies which directly influence the global warming effect. It is my hope that the prevalence of climate change movements can influence even more legislation to be adopted, as this is the best way to change the environmentally hazardous nature of industries, economies, and human lifestyles.