Thankfully, most students these days are taught about climate change. However, less investigate or understand the current solutions proposed.

They may have an inkling that the polar ice caps are melting, but unaware that the arctic permafrost is thawing or that surface albedo feedback is accelerating climate change. And while carbon dioxide is typically rendered in their minds as the nefarious ‘criminal’ and accused of being the number-one culprit, methane is nearly 30 times worse while nitrous oxide is about 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide at trapping heat. And yet the cause of all these emissions is directly related to fossil fuels.

I believe the solution lies deeply in a shift in energy and power source to the renewables. They are now developed by analytical systems, algorithms and AI to be well-managed in predicting the supply and clients' needs and calculating the costs to save and use the stored energy. Moreover, building renewable energy infrastructures are now receiving less rebuke from the public because governments often pay residents or owners of land royalties for utilizing the space and this provides an additional income to them. 

Some fossil fuel companies have claimed that they have already made progress with technologies, including carbon engineering and CO2 removal (such as CCS), yet their claims cloaked the lies underneath them. The underlying belief is flawed: it does not matter how much CO2 we produce, as long as we clean up the atmosphere later. But there is no time to wait. We have to prepare on both sides: removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and reducing emissions.

As renewable energy develops, the economy and employment rate is going to be improved and so is our air quality.