To try and understand the question asked, we must first define what climate change actually is. Climate change is shifts in the temperature and weather patterns that happen over a course of time. Climate change can be natural, but in our case it is being sped up by the things that humans are doing to make more money. Oppression is the subjection of someone to unjust treatment or control. I keeping these two textbook definitions in mind, I think that it is fair to say that climate change is a form of oppression. If we look at things on a general scale, it is safe to say that the rich “one percent” of the world is not doing anything in their everyday lives to slow the progression of climate change. It is also fair to acknowledge that every person of the working class population does not practice sustainable lifestyle habits such as recycling, not buying single use plastics,etc. Those that are apart of the working class and practicing sustainability try to “preach” and urge this lifestyle onto others. The problem with this is that it creates tension within classes that should ultimately be United so that they can work towards one common interest, but this also places guilt into many in those classes. I believe that there are so many people in the lower classes that would love to make a difference (the opposite is also true), but it just doesn’t fit into their lives. Most sustainable items are priced higher than single use items, which means that they are ultimately unaccessible to people that can’t afford them at that certain time. We can explore many different options such as saving up money to be able to have more sustainable items in your household, but the truth is that there are many people that are living paycheck to paycheck in a sense, barely being able to make ends meet for that week or month between their bills, grocery and other life necessities like medical bills, childcare, etc. overall, this climate change is a form of oppression because it is impossible to prevent in a society that exploits their workers in the manner that America does. Instead of urging the working and lower classes to “do better” and make lifestyle changes that can “save our planet”, we need to look at the people that can make a much grander difference in not only their lifestyle choices but their business practices as well.
