I was in the fourth grade, and after a long day of studying long division and learning to cross out prepositional phrases, I sat watching as the clock neared 2:42. Finally, the bell rang. I slung my backpack over my right shoulder and bolted to the basketball court. I felt my heart begin to beat faster as I saw my friends awaiting my arrival. I immediately reached into my backpack as my friends watched me in anticipation. I tore through the school papers scattered inside and finally found it. I pulled out my Pokemon card binder, filled with all of my most prized possessions. We began to browse each other's cards, transforming into little businessmen as we discussed the values of our cards, proposing trades and responding with counteroffers. 

Pokemon consumed my life. I woke up every Saturday morning at 8 am and turned on Cartoon Network so that I could watch Pokemon on TV. I watched videos of YouTubers who would open Pokemon packs. I owned a wardrobe filled with Pokemon-themed clothes. Each week my parents would give me my weekly allowance of five dollars, which I would immediately take to Target so that I could buy a booster pack of ten Pokemon cards. I was like Pablo Escobar, except the Pokemon cards were my cocaine and the playground was my Colombia. 

I was riding high on my glorious empire of Pokemon cards until one day it all came crashing down. It was a warm day on the playground, and I had just completed a long day of school. I assumed my usual position amongst my fellow Pokemon enthusiasts, only today was different; my friend Ethan showed up with a new version of Pokemon, the Pokemon video game for the DS. My world was turned upside down. I was overcome by a sense of overwhelming dread as I realized my vast Pokemon card collection was now obsolete. Within the week, all of my classmates had purchased the fifty dollar game as well. In a panic, I went to my parents demanding, “There’s this new really, really cool Pokemon game, and I need you to buy it for me.” 

I was met with my parents' classic response, “That’s why you have your own money from your allowance.”

 I had reached a dead end, but I knew what I would have to do. I began to save my weekly allowance to purchase the game myself. After three weeks of saving every penny of my allowance, I painstakingly pulled each wrinkled up dollar bill out of my piggy bank.  A metallic smell filled my nose as I turned my piggy bank upside down, shaking out fistfuls of pennies and dimes.  I began to add up the value of all my coins. My brain began working overtime, adding up the values, carrying over the one each time I reached one hundred cents. At the end, I reached a measly eighteen dollars and some change. I was devastated. My goal at this point seemed unattainable. At this point, I could no longer resist the temptation of buying another five-dollar Pokemon card pack. I went to the store and spent all my hard earned cash on booster packs, expanding my obsolete empire of Pokemon cards.  I could not help but fall into my own temptations for instant gratification. I was stuck in the past, wasting all my time and money on an obsolete and outdated form of Pokemon. 

Human nature tends to lead people into doing the things they want in the present, even if these things are not really what is best for us. In the example of my childish inability to save money, I was eventually able to overcome this temptation and purchase the game. Unfortunately, many people are unable to overcome this urge. The need for instant gratification fuels our society; it is the reason books and education are being replaced by instant and easily digestible media. People care more about knowing what Kanye West has to say about Pete Davidson than the current state of global affairs. 

When it comes to the topic of Climate Change, the actions of politicians and top CEOs perfectly embody this childish need for instant gratification. For a long time, these politicians and CEOs have made great profits, achieving a high level of success by mining for and burning fossil fuels. Unfortunately, the emissions of these fossil fuels fill our city skies with smog, bringing along a crisis of great urgency. Now a new and superior way of harvesting electricity has arisen: renewable energy. With fossil fuel supplies being drastically limited and the dramatic impacts of Carbon Dioxide emissions on the climate, it is imperative to take immediate action on climate change. Alternatively, energy sources such as hydroelectricity, solar, and even nuclear energy cause no harm to the environment and are renewable sources that won’t run out in the near future. 

Unfortunately for us, those profiting off non-renewable energy sources refuse to make the switch to renewable energy. Oil companies spend millions of dollars each year lobbying politicians to vote against bills supporting the switch to renewable energy. These companies would rather continue to buy the five-dollar Pokemon card packs rather than switch to the superior alternative. These greedy companies are unable to put aside a few months of profit to build the infrastructure for renewable energy, just as I was unable to put aside a few weeks of allowance to purchase the Pokemon DS game. Similar to how I counted the money in my piggy bank, these corporations count their profits thinking how much they could expand their obsolete empire of fossil fuels. 

It is true some legislation and technology has been implemented to support the transition to renewable energy. Sadly, most of this is just done for publicity, and it is not being implemented soon enough or on a large enough scale to make a real impact. Plans like the New Green Deal, which is supposedly one of the most aggressive policies on addressing this crisis, do not force any action on climate change until the year 2050. Companies realize the general public sentiment that action must be taken to protect the globe, but the public does not care enough to follow through on this sentiment. The public does nothing to keep these corporations and politicians from destroying the world we live in. The public feeds into this, continuing to buy luxury items like sports cars that seemingly use an entire tank of fuel just to get from one gas station to the next. As consumers, we also choose to buy the booster pack of Pokemon cards because we would rather temporarily live in luxury than transition to a sustainable future. 

I believe that we need to immediately address climate change instead of putting off the issue, because by not taking immediate action we are only harming future generations. Our world needs to quit building infrastructure that relies on fossil fuels. Our world needs to take action and reject the status quo of instant gratification and think about our futures and the lives of future generations. If we continue to repeatedly indulge in packs of Pokemon cards as if we are children, we will never truly make progress as a society. Instead of expanding our outdated energy infrastructure, just like buying Pokemon booster packs, we need to work together to achieve a sustainable future.