Over the past couple of weeks, the U.S has been facing large-scale climate obstacles. The cold snap with below-freezing temperatures, that left at least 58 dead in Texas in a few weeks has been capturing the countries attention. This is our wake-up call to the changing climate which needs to be taken more seriously.

President Biden has proved commitment to the environment in his first few days in office, but we need to get even more serious. The government currently has a $15.4 billion budget for the Space Force and further space exploration. NASA’s most recent Mars rover, Perseverance, cost $2.7 billion. The EPA’s budget from the last fiscal year was only around $9 billion. How can we spend so much money to explore other planets when we don’t put money into protecting and conserving the planet we have now? The $2.7 billion spent to send a rover to Mars could have been used toward renewable energy or conservation projects. Instead, we used it to look at a planet that would not support the human population. Earth is, as of now, the only planet humans can live on and we need to put more effort into protecting it. 

In recent years the environment has become a heavily politicized topic. Leaders in our country called climate change a hoax and decided to ignore the rising issues. In the past couple of weeks, this crisis in Texas has shown the government that we can not keep politicizing environmental activism. Big companies in various industries from oil to food production donate to the government so they can continue their practices, and the government still supports them through subsidization. This cannot continue any further. The government should separate itself and focus on the good of the country and the world.