Small steps can lead to a world of change

by Claire Ferro –

The first time a decree in regards to the Earth’s health was published, the year was 1992, and it was signed by 1,700 scientists around the globe. Today, 25 years later, things are still not better. In fact, yet another warning has just been released, with 14,300 new signatures.

Although the world outside your door may seem to be quite pleasant, there are more hurricanes, floods, droughts, carbon dioxide related problems, increased global temperatures, and ocean dead zones created by pollution than ever before, and the amounts of these things continue to grow as society’s ignorance regarding their lasting footprint continues to stand . We only have one Earth, one place to live, and that fact isn’t going to change any time soon. Humans tend to have a rather indifferent opinion towards a topic unless it directly affects them, and, because currently, the Earth is expected to outlive us, we overlook the importance and severity of this situation because we don’t see any impending danger towards us in the near future.

But, imagine if we didn’t outlive Earth. Imagine if our planet was a sentient being; alive.  I believe, based on other events that there would be marches, petitions, constant coverage on the media, widespread panic, and actual change. There will come a time when natural resources are almost gone causing wars, when the ozone layer is destroyed, when there are no more fish in the sea and floods have covered countries deep in water. Our great-grandchildren’s grandchildren will have to live like this, surrounded by disaster. So please, I urge you to make even one small decision each day to benefit our planet, for yourself, your community, and the world.

Claire Ferro is a sophomore at WCCS. She has an interest in all forms of writing, both fiction and nonfiction, and this particular piece she wrote as an Accelerated English project relating to “Night” by Elie Wiesel, focusing on the deteriorating quality of the Earth as a result of the actions of humankind. She has also written poetry, and a number of fiction short stories / novels all with equally complicated plots; however this is (so far) the only public writing of hers.