Over the years, many young adults and teens like me have been involved with protesting and trying to change the current state of the world. Recent examples include the junior doctors’ strike and National No Bra Day to promote breast cancer awareness.
It is true that these are very important matters, but they are all for nothing if the planet that sustains us is gone. Ultimately if the earth is gone then so are we.
We couldn’t have got where we are today without scientific and economic developments like those during the industrial revolution, but these have also caused terrible effects for the planet, with rising CO2 levels and deforestation. You hear about these problems a lot, but what do they actually mean?
Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere causes the infrared and thermal radiation given out by the sun to be trapped in our atmosphere. This is known as the greenhouse effect, and it causes the temperature of the oceans and seas to rise by a few degrees. Although it may not seem like this could have harmful effects, it really does – it causes the molecules of water to expand slightly. Imagine every water molecule in the world expanding. This is one reason why we have rising sea levels.
This will affect areas below sea level like Peterborough, with the worst ultimately causing our city to be submerged. Although this is happening slowly at the moment, it will happen at the current rates of pollution. And who will this affect the worst? The next generation.
So what can we do? We can take an interest in the state of our earth, the state of our city, town or village, look into new ways of making tomorrow better but greener and cleaner too. Look for sustainable sources of resources and food. Find ways to make technology help us, for example sign petitions for wind, wave, solar or any other sustainable energy sources. Help to plant trees or stop deforestation by signing more petitions, because trees clean up the CO2 that we don’t need.
All it takes is an email or a name to do some good, and if you don’t want to receive further emails, then unsubscribe – it’s as easy as that. So please, to all students, apprentices, home-schooled or activist kids, or to anyone who’s reading this: please do what you can. This is our Earth.
Kiran Double is currently volunteering at Peterborough Environment City Trust (PECT). To get involved, email [email protected] to register your interest.