The Gillnetter
The student news site of Gloucester High School in Gloucester, MA
November 7, 2018
Filed under Opinion, Showcase
I am not a tree hugger. I do not always remember to switch off the lights when I leave the room, and sometimes I turn the heat up too high in the winter. I don’t spend my days saving injured birds or picking up trash off the beach. But after the climate report issued by the International Panel on Climate Change, I started to feel guilty about how little I’ve been doing.
The report said that the highest temperature increase that the planet can safely reach in comparison to pre-industrial global temperatures is 1.5 degrees Celsius. In 2017, NASA placed us at a .9 degree Celsius increase, and according to the IPCC report, we are expected to reach that 1.5 degrees “between 2030 and 2052.”
The effect of this change to our planet’s climate would be catastrophic. Sea level rise from melting ice caps would worsen the flooding caused by the increasing numbers of hurricanes, typhoons, and blizzards that could be expected. Arid regions and land already damaged by deforestation would become completely un-farmable. Poor communities would be the most drastically and immediately affected.
Here on the coast, where our high school parking lot already fills with ocean water after a big storm, we should be worrying about what our little city will look like for our children and grandchildren.
Good Morning Gloucester 
Thank you for your excellent essay of insight and inspiration to know that the present and upcoming generations are thinking and working toward a sustainable future in opposition to apathy, greed and inability to value and support the science and statistics available rather than living in ignorance and contention of the current political climate.
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Thank You Good Read! This hits the core of the issues – WILLA BROSNIHAN, Staff Writer well said every bit of change makes a difference” 🙂 Dave & Kim 🙂
Caring for Our Planet
An Ancient Indigenous Concept
Only after the last tree has been cut down….
Only after the last river has been polluted….
Only after the last fish has been caught….
Only then, will you discover, that money cannot be eaten. – Cree Wisdom
Thanks Kim for sharing this article from Gillnetter I plan on sending it to other’s (Networking) as written by author!
I quoted a small piece out of my dads and Alf Simons book with various authors below, how strongly they feel about what we leave behind for our future the children for many, many, years.
“Building to endure book: Because it is with strong collective vision for our future, and for the well being of our children, that critical changes can take place.” Paul Lusk & Alf Simon Albuquerque New Mexico 2009.”.
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