As time goes by, the issue of climate change becomes more and more pressing. With climate change activists finding eccentric ways to bring attention to this matter, temperatures rising worldwide and intense and frequent natural disasters.
While people continue to debate the severity of climate change, or whether it exists in the first place, the conditions of the planet continue to worsen with each second. This can be seen all over the world, with ice caps melting in Antarctica, the Sahara Desert flooding for the first time in decades and rising sea levels. Texas is not immune from the rising effects of climate change.
Throughout this summer, the Dallas-Fort Worth area saw the impact of climate change in droughts and extreme heat, along with risks rising in frequent flooding in spring and increased public health risks. According to ClimateCheck, Dallas is projected to have 39 days per year over the temperature of 101.8 degrees Fahrenheit by 2050.
According to KERA News, out of all the cities in the world, the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex is responsible for producing about 23.8 million tons of carbon dioxide. Dallas ranks third in the highest amount of transportation-related greenhouse emissions, right behind Los Angeles and New York.
When it comes to climate change, articles often cover how individuals can “do their part” to reduce greenhouse emissions and lessen the impact of climate change. However, environmental impact and pollution cannot be discussed while ignoring the huge role corporations play.
The Frontier Group published an analysis in which they covered some of the country’s top polluters in 2022. Eight of the 50 highlighted U.S. facilities were located in Texas, such as Oak Grove, Martin Creek Lake and The ExxonMobil refinery. Additionally, Texas had greenhouse gas emissions grossing to a total of 873 million metric tons.
Even though companies in Texas are required to report excess emissions, they’re often written off with little to no repercussions. According to The Texas Tribune, companies with unauthorized emissions rarely are penalized, with less than 1% receiving correction between 2016-2022. It is no secret that Texas legislation and policies often are not in favor of limiting the effects of climate change, with plenty of proposed bills and legislation being ignored.
As citizens, we can take many of the actions promoted throughout the years, such as using paper straws, reducing electricity usage and using public transportation. However, the fact of the matter is that these steps are minuscule in the grand scheme of the problem.
The first step is looking into local politicians and whether they view climate change to be of extreme importance. Without people in power willing to take the proper, bigger steps to address climate change, large companies will continuously get away mostly scot-free.
And without proper accountability of corporations, we as a state – and as a country – will continue to see dire effects on the environment.
