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A Dire Request

It's time to speak up about our sad reality.

By Samantha BrinkerPublished 4 years ago 6 min read
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My Open Letter to Bernie Sanders:

Bernie,

Based off of the incredible efforts we have seen from you in the past, and all of the positive changes you want to make for the future, a majority of us younger individuals believe you have what it takes to save our deteriorating planet from further destruction. You have fought for minorities, marched for equality, defended those who weren't being listened to, pitched your ideas toward a better life for all, and essentially demanded that everyone is allowed to have a voice. You've done all of these amazing things for society, but what we wish for... need most from you now, is your authoritarian stand in the fight against climate change. Too many world leaders tend to make a mockery of the young climate change activists that are doing nothing but trying their hardest to save our environment, and it is unacceptable.

As a member of generation z, I am inquiring nicely and rigidly that you focus your attention most toward the elephant in the room: the trashed and polluted planet we live on. After all, there is no point in fighting for equal rights if the planet we're fighting on falls apart, or the children we are fighting for will have no future anyway.

It has become blatantly obvious that mother nature is crying for our help. The effects of global warming are never ending. For a predetermined understanding, the definition of global warming, found in any dictionary and backed by scientific proof, is the gradual increase in the overall temperature of the earth's atmosphere generally attributed to the greenhouse effect caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons, and other pollutants.

If that doesn't sound terrifying enough, take this time to think back to the recent event of the Australian wildfires that killed nearly one billion of earth's beautiful creatures. One. Billion. To put this into perspective with a visual representation, if you took one billion, one-dollar-bills, and proceeded to stack them on top of each other, not only would it take an overwhelmingly long amount of time, but the pile would measure at least 60 miles high, and take up about 2,000 acres of land. Do I even need to make the comparison of one dollar bills to the amount of animals that died in Australia? I think you get the point. This is vital Mr. Sanders!

Now, as the teary-eyed writer of this letter, I know that you don’t want to hear anymore bad news, but you need to hear it. According to National Geographic, there are less than 25,000 polar bears left in the wild due to the unimaginably high temperatures in Antarctica, causing these surviving bears to eat unnatural foods and to save their food for later. If you’re surprised that a polar bear has learned to save half of a dolphin in the ice for consumption at a later time, so was I, but this is the reality we are facing.

To add, not only are the animals facing the consequences from our selfish actions, but so will our children. If global temperatures continue to rise at this rate, there will be harmful effects for all of us in this lifetime. I am not preaching to you as if you don’t already know this or as if you're not motivated enough to take a stand with climate change activists; I am preaching to you because extensive measures need to be taken sooner than later, and this is your time to make known that you will be putting forth continuous effort to save the planet in 2020.

Our antiquated way of life needs to be updated immediately, before it's too late…

Sincerely,

The Generation of the Potential Future

"Climate change is real, caused by human activity and already devastating our nation and planet. The United States must lead the world in combating climate change and transforming our energy system away from fossil fuels and toward energy efficiency and sustainability."

-Bernie Sanders

The Causes of Climate Change

There are many man-developed processes and learned behaviors that cause climate change. If you think about it, most of the things we do are unnatural and learned through evolution because of the urge for simplicity.

The most thought about when the term pollution arises would be greenhouse gases. These are gases that are produced mostly from man made functions and spit out into the air so frequently that the earth can no longer filter them out, making the globes' temperatures rise and the air dirty. This is what we call the greenhouse effect and it is happening on our planet today.

The primary greenhouse gases consist of water vapor, nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide, ozone and methane. They come from agricultural practices, livestock manure, and the burning of fossil fuels.

Deforestation is another type of pollution that negatively impacts the Earth. This is when tons and tons of trees are plowed down in order to mass produce things that can be made from them, like wooden items or paper. Though the most common cause of deforestation is the need for more land in order to breed more livestock so that we can continue to eat absurd amounts of animal products.

Lastly, our oceans need a lot of help from us as well. There is a lot of waste, oils, plastics, and feces from livestock entering our oceans each day, killing not only land animals, but the underwater beings as well.

What You Can Do

Aside from the obvious ways to reduce your carbon footprint like recycling, saving energy by unplugging cords from outlets, walking instead of driving, or taking quicker showers, there are many other complex but relatively easy ways to become more Eco-friendly.

1. Become vegetarian or vegan.

Not only is it beneficial for your health, but becoming plant based will reduce the amount of trees being torn down everyday, and save the animals.

2. Become waste-free or minimize your wasted products.

Become more self aware when using things like toilet paper, feminine wipes, razors, gift cards, and many other small wasteful items that can be unnecessarily used.

3. Set up a system in which you can compost your leftover food scraps.

This one doesn't seem as realistic as the others, but it is just as easy. Composting food is a great way to reduce waste and help the environment.

4. Refuse to buy plastic.

The best way to keep plastic from ruining the oceans or killing the animals in nature is to decrease the amount of things you throw away, and to say goodbye to plastic. You can do this by getting reusable grocery bags, reusable water bottles, purchasing metal straws, and buying bar soap instead of body wash that comes in a container. Also, there will be no need for packaged foods if you become plant based, so you can just buy smaller fabric bags to use instead of the plastic ones on display in front of the produce at grocery stores.

5. Protest.

Lastly, stand with the rest of us and convince the ignorant to discontinue their denial towards this urgent issue.

Check out this search engine that plants trees:

activism
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About the Creator

Samantha Brinker

vegetarian~taurus~creative writer~bisexual~psyche~wiccan~music lover

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