“Our house is on fire. I am here to say, our house is on fire.”

Greta Thunberg

If your house is burning, what would you do? What would you save? Who would you save? Ask yourself these questions. Many of you quickly respond, “My family.” In this house we call planet Earth, every living creature is our family member. From every atom to the largest tsunami, we are all connected and related. Yet, even though our common home is on fire, we turn our gaze away from our burning house with our family stuck and struggling inside. We pass the responsibility of saving our loved ones to others. We dismiss  the guilt of leaving our family to die and placing it on those who cannot afford to run into the burning house. Now the question becomes, why should we care when we can place our idleness on those around us?

Climate change affects all of us.

Climate change is not a selective crisis. Climate change is not something we can separate ourselves from. Climate change is not something that we can hide from. No amount of money, fame, social connections, education, or material goods can save us from the effects of our dying home. 

According to the United Nations, “Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. These shifts may be natural, but since the 1800s, human activities have been the main driver of climate change, primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels (like coal, oil, and gas) which produces heat-trapping gasses.” We can already see the effects of climate change around the world. Storms,  flooding, droughts, and uncontrollable wildfires are becoming more frequent and intense. The sixth mass extinction is here. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, “Taken as a whole, the range of published evidence indicates that the net damage costs of climate change are likely to be significant and to increase over time.”

Climate change affects all of us. Not just the nature we separate ourselves from, but us, the human species. It has an enormous impact on our physical, emotional, and mental health. According to the CDC, wildfires and excess heat will lead to increased droughts and heat waves, which in turn will lead to wildfires and loss of habitat for many living creatures, including humans. NASA predicts that oceans will rise one to eight feet by 2100. This will cause the flooding of coasts and more loss of habitat and displacement. Numerous health hazards will come with the excessive amount of heat, including cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Increased air pollution will lead to an increase of asthma cases, and extreme weather will lead to food insecurity, therefore increasing nutritional deficiencies. Oil spills, mercury, and microplastics will affect our food supply, poisoning our resources and ourselves. The decline of safe food will lead to higher prices, thus contributing to a cycle of food insecurity. Climate variations will introduce more vector-borne (insects such as fleas, ticks, and mosquitoes) diseases. Extreme weather events and climate catastrophes will cause an increase in mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic-stress-disorder (PTSD). According to the World Health Organization, the effects of climate change will add an additional 250,000 deaths per year.  

The window to avoid the worst effects of climate change is closing, but there are effective steps you can take to make the most of this precious time. Swapping disposable products with reusable, recyclable ones is important. Eating less meat, carpooling, and installing energy efficient appliances are other sustainable swaps all of us should try to implement in our lives. Here is a list of sustainable swaps, brands, and charities that each of us can use to combat climate change. A single person alone cannot solve climate change through sustainable swaps, but joining activism groups, such as the famous youth-led Sunrise Movement, Greenpeace, or the World Wildlife Fund, can give individuals a sense of community and hope. Contacting your local officials is crucial to enact change. It can create a chain effect that will impact policy and societal norms. You can contact your local representative through a letter, email, or most effectively, a phone call. Here is a helpful guide on contacting a government official. And finally – vote! Voting for representatives and government officials that support climate action and conservation will help lead us to a more sustainable future. 

Every single human on this planet should care about climate change, including us as Stone Ridge students. We are a group of empowered students with the resources, connections, drive, passion, and determination to make a meaningful difference. Stone Ridge recently created the Sustainability Committee, which is engaged in creating a green learning environment to respectfully use the land around us and to educate our community about the effects of climate change. Additionally, our SCGs and DCGs can cover the intersectionality between the climate crisis and all areas of society. As a generation of diversity and problem solvers unlike any generation before, we can implement the changes we need to make for a livable future. As students of the Sacred Heart, using our five Goals guarantees that our actions will positively influence others and the world around us. From the wise words of Margaret Mead, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” Let Stone Ridge be that small group of committed and empowered citizens that changes how we as people, a network of schools, and humanity interact with each other and our common home.

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