"I Want You to Panic Like Our House is On Fire"- By Bella Verdesco

-


Our house is on fire. It is crumbling to the ground at an increasingly alarming rate, and if we don't act fast, it will be gone forever. Our house is the Earth. The once shining sea has become a plastic paradise killing all marine life in its path, and the everlasting green rolling foothills are now an oil drilling reservoir for human use. Our home is dying, and what's being done about it? Not much is all I can say. Politicians promise us kids a cleaner and brighter future that we can pass onto our children, but they don't do what they say. "Why?" you may ask... because it's all about money in their pockets. The people who we elect into office to speak on our behalf lie and cheat their way up to the top. Their lying and manipulation have gotten so out of hand that teens of all ages have risen up to take a stand, one of them being Greta Thunberg.

16-year-old Greta Thunberg from Sweden has had enough of the false hope from our politicians. At 15 years old, Greta decided to skip school and protest outside of Parliament in Stockholm. About eight months later, she is now speaking on behalf of the United Nations and traveling in her zero emissions boat to attend climate change protests. This incredibly determined girl has not only gotten her point across to the world, but sparked a movement with her passionate words. She is leading the path of change in the way our world functions by reducing emissions, because if we don't the consequences will be catastrophic.
We are in the midst of the Holocene extinction, which is the sixth mass extinction caused by human productivity. Due to our greediness, over 80% of the lands dedicated to animals have been lost from about 177 mammal species, and over 50% of all individual animals have become extinct in recent decades. So far in Greenland alone, the country has lost an average of 286 billion tons of ice per year between 1993 and 2016. In addition, ocean acidification has increased by about 30% as well as oceans warming over 0.4 degrees in Fahrenheit since 1969 and sea levels rising about 8 inches in the last century.
If we (the people) continue to pollute our home, we will ultimately be the demise of the Earth...and Great Thunberg realizes this. She is such an inspirational figure and the most amazing part about her is that she uses her condition, Asperger's, to fuel her 'flame' for the cause. Asperger's is a developmental disorder that causes difficulties in social interaction and nonverbal communications and provokes repetitive patterns of behavior and interests, which is classified on the Autism spectrum. Due to her 'disorder,' Greta has become so devoted to the issue of climate change that she is sparking interest across the globe, provoking people to make a change. 
      The Earth is the only home we have and we cannot take it for granted. Changes need to be made and made fast, and it can start with you. 
Sources: 
Recommended Videos:
Image result for greta thunberg
Greta at the United Nations Climate Seminar 
Image result for greta thunberg
Greta, among others, at the Iowa Climate Strike 
Image result for greta thunberg
Greta Thunberg is seen protesting about climate change outside of Parliament in Sweden 

Comments

  1. DanielleOctober 15, 2019 at 6:08 AM

    Good for her - I love the thought about the house on fire. It's effective and scary.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousOctober 18, 2019 at 9:24 AM

    I think it's really cool that she's taking a stand at her age. Hopefully, she inspires more people to work together to make a change.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousOctober 23, 2019 at 6:19 AM

    Wow, your hook was very well written. It got me to click on this and keep reading immediately.

    ReplyDelete
  4. UnknownDecember 22, 2020 at 1:17 PM

    Wow when I read this, I said to myself, "Paint me red and call me Clifford". It was so well written that it made me cry. I cried in my room for 3 hours, but im okay now. Thanks Bella, great work.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ancient Greek Heroes VS. Modern Day Heroes

-
Image
Heroes in Greek/Anglo-Saxon (I am grouping the types of historical literature we have read) writing are very obvious and much of ancient Greek literature involves a central hero or a supernatural story. In modern day English, however, the plots are less often mythical and more realistic. Since each person has a different definition for heroism, modern day heroism literature can be more varied. Ancient Greek writing is very often far-fetched, however. There are many similarities and differences between the two types of writing, but first I will run through the most significant differences. In Greek mythology, heroes were often religious figures, like demigods, while modern day writing focuses more on ordinary people. This could be because authors nowadays want the readers to be able to relate with the heroes in their stories. Greek writing had heroes that had the power to protect or destroy the people depending on prevailing circumstances. In contrast, modern day heroes are acknowledg...
Read more

My Brother by Elizabeth Hailey DeGasperis

-
Image
          When I contemplate what is most important in my life, my mind is drawn to my 21-year-old brother, Tom. There are not enough words in the English language I could use to describe what he means to me. I cannot imagine the past fifteen years of my life without him. Allow me to start from the beginning.           Even when I was an infant, he never failed to take me out of my crib, strap me in my high chair, and cook scrambled eggs for us (at the tender age of six). He did this so my mother could catch up on sleep in the mornings and take care of me however he could. I only wish I could return the favour in some way. Though we have always been tight, we used to fight frequently as all siblings do. As immature children, we viewed every ordeal as monumental. The apocalypse would occur if either of us decided to give the other access to the TV remote or the pogo sticks for five minutes. However, we would always make-up in the end and...
Read more

Not Fate, Just a Coincidence - Sila Paniker

-
Image
The idea of fate confuses me. I don't really understand how something will happen no matter what you do. It just seems very unlikely. I think we're constantly making choices that lead to occurrences. We make so many decisions a day that it seems impossible that fate can find a way around it all.  Awhile ago, I saw something called the Butterfly Effect, which doesn't exactly relate to fate but it makes sense to me. The idea is that a butterfly flapping its wings can cause a tornado on the other side of the world. Essentially, small changes can have large impacts. In my head, this connects with the thousands of tiny decisions we subconsciously make each day. There are people I've met or things that have happened and it feels like it was meant to be but they're just a bunch of coincidences that had the ability to change everything. Thinking about it, there are reasons that can explain everything. For example, I met one of my closest friends a few years ago a...
Read more