The future of our planet is being decided right now, whether we are ready to accept it or not. Permanent damage caused by global warming is imminent, and it is up to us to change our ways of living before it’s too late. Climate change has been a known fact for years, but really, what has changed in our way of treating the planet this last decade? Not enough.
I find it astounding that mankind has such a big ability to create, but uses that incredible ability to destroy itself. How can we know that we are devastating our home, and consequently ourselves, but still not treat it as a crisis? We are in a war; a war which opposes those who are ready to protect our planet, and those who are not.
My name is Alena Kern-Marro, I am 14 years old, live in France, and am worried about the future of our planet. The recent course of civilisation has led up to where we are now: on the verge of self-destruction. Still, people don’t seem to wake up to the fact that our system needs to fundamentally change, and rapidly so. In the past 35 years, the abundance of invertebrates such as beetles and bees has decreased by 45 percent, and since 2016, half of the coral reefs have died.According to the UN, we have 12 years to prevent climate change catastrophe, before the Earth turns into a nightmare of droughts, floods, extreme heat and poverty.
- Nevertheless, we can already see some of these “natural” disasters devastating our planet today, and we only have one decade to completely change the world’s way of living before the consequences are irreversible. But realistically, where can that change come from?
“How you behave as an individual is a great part of how we can all change,” insists Fernando Garcia Ferreiro, director of health and wellbeing in the European Commission until 2019. “By making small efforts in your everyday life and inspiring others to do the same, we may at least begin to heal the world. Many personal choices are extremely important— such as using eco-friendly products, buying organic food and using reusable packages, for instance. But, sharing reasons for your behaviour by talking about it with others is just as crucial. We need to change people’s mentalities, and that will only happen when they realise that others are changing too.”
So even if you think that the likelihood of saving the environment by eating less meat is slim, think again; because all the magic lies in the numbers, and consumer choices will determine the supply.
As Greta Thunberg, a 15-year-old activist, said during the UN Climate Change COP24 Conference, change is coming, whether we want it or not. So it’s up to us to make sure that change is positive. . “Maybe [one day, my children] will ask me about you. Maybe they will ask me why you didn’t do anything, while there still was time to act. You say you love your children above all else, and yet you are stealing their future in front of their very eyes.”
Unfortunately, in most cases, we only act when time is running out, but many don’t realise that that time is now. This decade is the last chance we have to save the Earth before it’s too late, and we’re wasting it fighting amongst ourselves and being selfish instead of coming together, as it is required.
“Thinking that we are completely separate from nature and that we can use up all the resources we want to is wrong. ‘Consciousness’ is trying to get it across to people that we are not separate from the environment and we’re not separate from the Earth’s future!” claims Louise, a divestment activist. “Once people have that understanding and feel more attached to nature and other people, they will act and start understanding how connected they are to the environment and what happens to it.”
To save nature, you must learn to love it. And if you love it, you will want to save it. Start by developing compassion, empathy, humanity, and making mindful decisions. Get as close to nature as you can, and learn to see the connection we have with it.Everything we see is a part of nature, including ourselves. So speak from the heart. Everyone is quite frightened by climate change, and it’s clearly in people’s minds. The most powerful thing is to speak about those emotions and act upon them, because the biggest hope lies in making people want to change.
The biggest nations have until now denied action because of their attachment to economy, so the only ones who are really free to make a difference are the people. The fact that more and more young citizens are speaking up may be the way for change.
When young children or elderly people raise their voices and act, that is when there is the most impact: “People of power are tired of hearing from the same environmental organisations, who, although have greatly improved our situation, can’t be the only ones to help.”, says Fernando Garcia.So when decisions must be made and those organisations are the only ones to show up to defend the Earth, it only gives the decision-makers a sense of “déjà-vu”, and an excuse to push the situation aside, making it sound unimportant.
But if the unexpected happens, and young boys and girls stand up to defend our world’s future,
it will leave them pressed to do something and more likely to take action.
It is up to us, the youth, the future of our planet, to defend our home and stand up to protect it, for that is where the real power lays: in our hands.
“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”
– Gandhi
Alena Kern-Marro
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