Climate change is a big problem – we’ve all heard that before. We have also heard how it will affect future generations, but that statement alone does not seem to stop the pollution.
I want you to think of a young person in your life, like a child, niece or nephew, or neighbor or student (and if you are a young person, think of yourself). Climate change will affect them in a bad way. What will happen when the earth gets too hot or too cold to live on? Or if they have asthma and the air quality is so bad they can’t breathe? Or when all natural resources we have run out and we can’t build new buildings?
It may sound far away, but such things are already happening and some of them are closer than you think. According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, Brazilhome to 53.3% of the entire region’s forests, has lost 92.3 million hectares (or approximately 228 million hectares) of forest in the last 30 years.
Another example, and one that’s closer to home: US News and World Report, in an article about the 10 US cities with the worst air, said Bakersfield had the worst air quality year-round and even on the days with the highest pollution. “Bakersfield’s poor air quality is due to a combination of factors“, the article said, “emissions from the area’s energy and agricultural industries, a dry, dusty climate” among them. The pollution affects “a population of more than 916,000.”
The good news is that there are lots of things you can do to help. You can practice source reduction, where you don’t buy things such as e.g plastic water bottles or paper bags and use cloth bags or reusable water bottles instead.
Another good option is to plant trees or do community service. Trees create better oxygen, and many are cut down for paper or land to turn into farms or houses and building materials, so planting them can help a lot.
If you start to lose hope, remember that young person and that we have defeated a climate problem before: the hole in ozone layer. So even if it’s just reusing your plastic water bottle, or planting an entire forest of trees, there’s something everyone can do to help.
Madar Mee is an eighth grader in the Los Angeles Unified School District.