Forum attendees of UN World Environment Day. My name is Jennifer Ly. I’m fifteen years old. I stand here today as a reminder to all of you that my generation wants a future. My generation wants to breathe fresh air, drink clean water, and have the chance to grow and prosper. I stand here today to tell you all that my generation knows climate change is real, and it is coming at us like the tsunami it has created. Adults have been sticking their heads in the sand for too long, but now we have no choice but to face up to the damage humans have done to the planet and to future generations.
Climate change is caused by too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Burning fossil fuels is driving this change with devastating effects. The consequences of climate change are not hard to see. Sea levels are rising as oceans are getting warmer; the planet is getting drier with longer droughts threatening freshwater supplies; bushfires are getting more intense and more frequent. Climate change is posing a catastrophic threat to every aspect of our environment and an existential threat to human survival. But we know, beyond any doubt that our actions are creating this global problem, and as John F. Kennedy so logically put it, “Our problems are man-made, therefore they be solved by man.” We must solve this problem and we must solve it today, not tomorrow.
Save your time!
We can take care of your essay
- Proper editing and formatting
- Free revision, title page, and bibliography
- Flexible prices and money-back guarantee
Why is the sea rising you ask? Of course, the central answer is because of humans. We’ve been warming the planet for centuries, our industrialized consumer-driven economies accelerating the burning of fossil fuels; deforesting to make way for more crops and more housing; exploiting natural resources. It all adds up to one thing: the release of toxic greenhouse gases into the atmosphere that is killing the planet and us in the process. CNN, drawing on years of scientific modeling, warns that, “the warming would be especially dangerous if it crosses a threshold of 2 degrees Celsius higher than the Earth’s temperature at the start of the industrial revolution.” I ask, do you still insist on sacrificing our future for your greed and negligence? Kathy Jetnil Kijiner, a young poet and author expresses her hope for a future free of climate change disasters. “I’d rather imagine our next generation, their voices turning the tides, […], how they will leap, petal-soft, beautiful, unafraid, into the water, before blossoming to fly.” Sea level rise is happening right now. Small vulnerable islands such as the Maldives, Kiribati, and the Marshall Islands are feeling the devastating effects on their homes, their livelihoods, and their families. Do you think they are less important to you? If you have any humanity left, you will change your self-centered ways for the survival of your fellow human being. “You haven’t played your part until your lifestyle reflects a change of heart.” (A Climate of Change, George the poet).
The cruel twist of climate change is that whilst the planet heats up and the ice melts and floods the seas, the land becomes dryer, unable to sustain itself. Food and water supplies are under threat. Everything on this planet needs water to survive. Fresh water is essential to everything we do. Fresh water is the number one public health issue with the risk of deadly diseases spreading without it. The Murray-Darling Basin is Australia’s most important river for agriculture. According to the Murray-Darling Basin Authority (n.d.), drought has negatively influenced the basin, causing the river to lack fresh water. Many people are affected in many ways, and I’m sure you will be too. Many farmers from NSW have shared their experience with drought, [quotes on power point]. Continuing our rate of climate change, we will lack clean water resulting in many health problems, including waterborne diseases. Well, my question to you now is, do you still insist [in]? living in these conditions? Maybe, tomorrow won’t come. Only time can tell.
Climate change deniers can decry that the climate is always changing and that this is just another natural cycle. Wake up! Extreme weather conditions are on the rise and we are powerless to stop it unless we accept this crisis as real. It’s true that Australia is a land of extreme weather events, but we have not experienced the magnitude that is affecting us today. Who would have thought, even five years ago, that a tropical cyclone would be threatening Brisbane? While Cyclone Oma was forming off the coast of Townsville over 100 bushfires were blazing because of the intense heat waves blanketing the state the previous week. Now Cycle Oma has reformed and has been pushed down the coast threatening South -East Queensland coastline. A study from the Australian Academy of Science (n.d.) of Southeast Australia predicted the number of bushfire danger days rated extremely high could double by 2050, from our present emission rate. Each month, heat records are broken. Here’s a thought, did you think last summer was surprisingly hot? Well “It’s not just an unusually hot summer, it is climate change” (Harsh Vardhan, Minister of Science and Technology, India). You need to stop sleeping on climate change because it is not a dream, it is reality. As Barack Obama once stated, “Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires and crippling drought and more powerful storms.”
Have we really learned anything from the past? Barack Obama once said, “Climate change is a fact.” None of us are immune to climate change. That’s why, for the future generation now, let’s rise.
Stuck on your essay?
