Reading the news can be extremely depressing these days, especially when thinking about environmental issues. It sometimes feels as if all hope is lost, and that there is no use trying to save the climate anymore since it’s already in such dire circumstances. Whenever I feel like this I try to remind myself of the innate ability of human beings to come up with creative solutions to their problems.
I recently heard about a new study which found that feeding cows a small amount of seaweed every day reduces their methane emissions by half; adding even more seaweed to the bovine diet can reduce emissions almost entirely. These findings are out of the ordinary, and clearly whoever thought to feed a cow seaweed was thinking outside the box. Yet the results of this creative idea can have a huge positive impact, as methane emissions from cows are a huge contributor to the greenhouse effect.
The more dire our situation becomes, the more creative people’s solutions will necessarily become. We now have a unique opportunity to save our species and many others through ingenuity and seemingly insane ideas. The task is daunting and terrifying, yet viewing it through a lens of curiosity and positivity makes the solutions more easily approachable. My hope is that innovative ideas such as this will propel us into a greener future.
Written by Isabel Lieberman, Class of 2021.