The bees are dying, the water is rising, the animals are changing, the air is rearranging, and what are we doing?
I can answer that for you.
We are doing nothing.
And someday, the only blue sky and green grass we’ll be able to see will be in a picture.
Do I sound like a tree hugger to you? Because I’m not. I’m a realist.
When you look at what we’re doing to our world, it’s actually quite sad. We’re treating our oceans like garbage disposals, injecting our animals like addicts looking for a fix, and burying our trash into the earth like it’s a cemetery. The earth will become a cemetery if we refuse to act.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but America needs a reality check. I used to ask myself, “I wonder what future generations will read about of this century in their history books.” And now I ask myself, “Will their be anyone around to read about our history?”.
This article, or opinion piece, or whatever you want to call it, could be filled with a bunch of statistics from various scientists and researchers’ data about climate change and environmental issues, but I think everyone knows there’s a problem. It’s almost the end of January and 45 degrees here in Cincinnati, Ohio. It should be around 10 degrees, if not lower.
This week, President Trump signed an executive order that would open the Keystone XL and Dakota pipelines for discussion again because they would bring 28,000 construction jobs to the United States. I understand that the US needs jobs because our economy is in a hole right now, but why do we have to sacrifice the environment for the economy? Why can we not invest in clean energy resources? These resources are more costly, but if these resources will lead us to a brighter future, or to a future at all, there should be no hesitation. Looking at the whitehouse.gov website, Trump’s First Energy Plan states,
“President Trump is committed to eliminating harmful and unnecessary policies such as the Climate Action Plan and the Waters of the U.S. rule…The Trump Administration will embrace the shale oil and gas revolution to bring jobs and prosperity to millions of Americans. We must take advantage of the estimated $50 trillion in untapped shale, oil, and natural gas reserves, especially those on federal lands that the American people own.”
In the second to last paragraph, the website then states, “Lastly, our need for energy must go hand-in-hand with responsible stewardship of the environment. Protecting clean air and clean water, conserving our natural habitats, and preserving our natural reserves and resources will remain a high priority.”
Now, c’mon. One of these things is not like the other. It is not possible to protect the environment and hack into all our unclean energy sources. These things do not go hand in hand. You cannot “protect” the air when you are pumping more CO2 from coal into it. Nor can you “protect” the water when fracking for shale pollutes it to the point of no return.
We need to do something. Anything to make a difference. It can start small. Today, you can recycle the empty toilet paper roll or a used tissue box. You can start using refillable water bottles. You can shut off the lights when you’re not in a room. You can choose to shut off the water while brushing your teeth. You can start small and gradually make a difference.
This world is the only world we have. And I hate to break the news to people who believe that “science can fix everything,” because it can’t. And anyways, we’re big kids now. We should be able to face our problems head on instead of working around them, and that includes taking care of the earth.
I do not want to be apart of the generation that knows there are environmental issues, knows they are causing them, knows the solution, but chooses not to do anything about it. Do you want to be the generation that sits by and watches as the earth becomes uninhabitable when you knew that you had the opportunity to prevent it, but chose to do nothing? The rest of the world often looks at us to lead a fight, as we were the ones that “fired the shot heard around the world.” If we do not choose to fight for the world, then who will?
So choose to fight for this world instead of against it, so that in the future, we don’t have to say to our grandchildren, or great grandchildren, “When I was younger, the grass was green and the sky was blue.”