This is the future! – Act Now for Climate Change
In our series of posts from our recently held creative writing contest to get students to think about climate change and take action we received several entries. The age group fo 15-17 year olds addressed much rated issues on the climate crisis and what they can do to reduce the impact. Here we are sharing some of the winning entries below.
A 16 year old from Udaipur, Riya Kachhara a student of St. Mary’s School has described her world beautifully in the following words:
“Dreamt of the clear skies
But woke to the smoke that lies
Wanted to breathe clean
But trapped around these screens
The waterfall, the butterflies and the beautiful scenery
All seem to be in a distant memory
Where’s the blue? Where’s the green?
Now I think I heard a scream
The rise in the heat
And the animals that bleed
Are these the results of my misdeeds?
As for you, the fault was never yours
So what if you are out of cures
Maybe corona virus won’t kill
But this furious change surely will.
The climate change has been globally observable in different forms but has still been put
under ignorance. The intergovernmental panel on Climate Change (IPCC) forecasts a
temperature rise of 2.5 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit over the next century. Its long term effects
include:
a. Change in precipitation patterns
b. Constant temperature rise
c. Droughts and heat waves
d. Incensing of hurricanes
e. Rise in sea level
f.Poles likely to become ice free
g. Disturbance in animal survival
Honestly that wasn’t the world I wanted to be a part of. The word “earth” gives my mind an image of LIFE. A place where nature exists in its pristine form but looking at the reality gives my heart a huge discontentment. The earth wasn’t in the current state from the beginning. We-the humans made it this way. Say it the advancement, development, greed or industrialization; the intrusion with nature will drown us along with it.
Waking up to the sun kissing the skin, breathing the actual fresh air, seeing the dogs run with joy and the birds singing out their lungs is possibly an illusion for a so called ‘urban person’.
You can’t equate the thrill of the first showers with the tip top metallic shower hanging up from the ceiling of your high class washroom neither can you compare the ecstasy of the sunrays soaking down your pores with the comfort of your heater on a chilly day. Can you?
Maybe that is the reason I have a thing for these villages when my mates may consider it as a shame. I don’t claim that I stand against development, but all I inquire is, can’t there be a way to balance it all. The answer that I managed to get so far was that ‘WHERE THERE IS A WILL, THERE IS A WAY’. Yes, it’s possible if we all try and believe me it’s not that tough. Follow the 5 R’s not for doing a favor to the world but for your own self
cause wake up, you haven’t inherited the world from your ancestors but borrowed it from your children. Stop the greed, give rain water harvesting a chance, switch to non conventional sources of energy, help the individuals and organizations that plan on promoting the above mentioned in any form and please plant a tree per year for as the
Chinese proverb goes-“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago and the second best time is NOW”.
I still wish to see the earth in its original colors-Blue and Green. I still want to see the Albatross flying over the seas, want to tell my future kids that the Lion is still the king of the jungle. Doesn’t everybody want that, because I certainly do?
Let us all come together to clean the mess that we collectively created and make it a better place to live because IF ITS NOT NOW THEN ITS NEVER!”
Somprabha Kashyap from a government girls senior secondary school in Jaipur in her winning entry submitted an Individual’s role and Self declaration on preserving climate change in following words “
1. I will reduce my carbon footprints by following eco-practices
2. I will contribute wherever possible towards the mitigation of the climate change practices
3. I will take part in all the awareness activities on the use of the renewable source of energy
especially solar.
Further,
I will reduce the use of the vehicles wherever possible,
I will maximize my use of the shared transport system,
I will check the home appliances with the eco-marks
I will be the part of advocacy towards conservation practices
I will be the part of climate change advocacy at every level.”
She also mentions some actions to cope up climate change in her writing “I learned that the global community through United Nations made several provisions to check the climate change. The IPCC and its reports had given eye opening observations from every corner of the world.
The UNFCC is working in this direction. The climate emergency or climate change crises have been included in the core of the national policies by every nation. The Agenda 2030 with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 targets focused on the five Ps (people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnership) to overcome the challenges of modern world. The SDG 13 exclusively focus on the climate action. It is welcoming step of Indian Government which included climate change as the core issues and also changed its ministry title from MoEF to MoEFCC.
I will submit that whatever the international community or the national governance are taking the preventive steps, it is the duty of every citizen to step ahead to revive the age-old Indian concept of “Prakriti Purush” (Nature and Man) which symbolizes the relevance of interrelationship and the eco-compatible culture “Aranya Snaskriti” (Forest Culture) where humans were knowing that we are the part of Nature not the owner of Nature.”
From Chennai, Sambhav Baid a student of PSBB Sr Sec School, in his composition on ‘Climate Change and the World I want to Live in’ says, “Everyone cycles to places that are in a 5 kilometer radius of their home. Every student uses the school bus facility, no one hesitates to use public transport and carpool becomes a practice in every home. Every building with a large roof or terrace is endowed with solar panel. Water harvesting is the norm of society and refrigerators stop using CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons). The use of coal and
petroleum is almost NIL.
This society and world I talk about is not a utopian one. This is the future. It can be reality with small efforts that we take today. All the methods that are written about above are those which reduce pollution and reduce our carbon footprint.
There are a vast multitude of problems in the world today. Some effect only humanity and some affect every living organism. Climate change is a huge problem that affects every organism that breathes on this earth. Climate change was caused by supposedly the most intelligent and aware specieshumans but all organisms‐ animals, birds, insects, bacteria etc. face the brunt of it. Global warming is the most talked about and the biggest issue today. Every
water body faces increasing temperatures and that adversely affects aquatic life all around the globe.
We have been discussing the problem for too long and now it’s time to wake up and change the world. This world can still be saved from the apocalypse and be taken back to a time where pollution was not a shakeout. However this problem will not be solved by the efforts of a few scattered individuals of the world. This is the time for every citizen to stop blaming and start working.”
Quoting Mahatma gandhi in his article “Be the change you want to see”, Sambhav said “It’s time that every citizen steps out, spreads awareness and implements all eco-friendly methods. It’s time we take nature seriously and respect this earth that was gifted to us by our ancestors and the previous generations who truly knew how to use and respect this earth and land that we call our mother.
The world I want to live in is a world with citizens that respect the gifts given to them. A world where the younger generations do not while away time rather encourage the elders and change the world in true sense. I want to live in a world where every youngster like me thinks like Greta Thunberg herself and has the courage to
raise their voice against injustices faced by nature, plants and animals We cannot and should not give up on Mother Nature instead we must be a part of the change.
As Greta Thunberg once said “You must unite behind the science. You must take action. You must do the
impossible. Because giving up can never ever be an option.”
If you too have some thought that you wish to share please dont hesitate to write to us at change@solarmaxx.co.in and we will be happy to take it up.
