See Other Letters to the Editor Here

 

Youngest Members Express GVC³Core Values

 

No Excuses in Combating Climate Change

 

Dear Editor:

 

I would like to address the importance of taking action with regards to climate change similar to the action we have taken due to COVID-19.

 

Many of our world leaders have made excuses about why change for our Earth cannot happen and how they have no influence over what gets put into the atmosphere, and our rivers and oceans. The quick action taken to prevent the spread of the coronavirus proves that we can in fact take the enormous steps needed to save our planet. No one is allowed the excuse of having no impact. If we can make change happen this quickly and directly there is no reason we should not take action now.

 

I believe that our leaders have been failing to make the quick change they did when the virus spread because they refuse to believe that it directly impacts them in the way COVID-19 could, but unlike this virus there is no question of whether you will or will not get it. If we do not make big changes quickly, our planet will fail to survive. There is no wondering whether the Earth will magically rid itself of all this pollution and destruction of natural resources. With COVID-19 there is approximately a 1.38 percent chance of dying (Medscape 3/31/20). We are the ones who give the commands. If we do not take the necessary steps to reinvigorate our Earth we have a 100 percent chance of not outliving our destruction.

     

At 13 years old, I want to encourage people to take action because I can say for a fact that this does directly affect me and everyone else.

 

Thank you,

Sophia Komarek

Gunnison Valley Climate Coalition

April 9, 2020

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Teen demands change in climate crisis

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Dear Editor,

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Because of COVID-19, nobody is driving, factories are shut down and airlines are grounding their fleets. This is exactly what climate activists, such as myself, have been asking the government to make happen for years. One of the few good things that is a result of this pandemic is the fairly massive drop in carbon emissions around the world. Time and time again, the government has claimed they couldn’t make the nation change their habits to benefit the environment, to help global climate change.

     

They’ve been busted. Not just the nation, but the entire globe has changed its habits because of the coronavirus crisis. Now, I’m not saying that, when this horrible pandemic has come to an end to continue social distancing and self quarantining, but if everyone would take this as a good time to, when we have defeated COVID-19, refrain from driving and ride your bike more, the whole world can benefit. All of us young people are less susceptible to get infected by COVID-19, but we are making a sacrifice so that older people can survive this crisis. I am a 15-year-old, studying school online instead of in a classroom. That is a sacrifice.

 

Climate change is a crisis too, but many adults do not view it that way because they might not be alive when it hits. Just as young people are making sacrifices for older people during this coronavirus, in return, we, the generations who will live to see the long-term effects of the climate crisis, ask that all of you older people make a sacrifice to help stop climate change. Climate change is a life-threatening crisis too, and even though it isn’t threatening your lives now, it is threatening our lives in the future.

     

If you are in high school and would like to join ECHO (Earth Creature Habitat Organization) Crested Butte, you can email me at echocbco@gmail.com or if you would like to become an activist or supporter of GVCCC, you can email us at gunnisonvalleyclimate@gmail.com.

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Oliver van Tiel

President of ECHO Crested Butte,

Core member of GVCCC

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Photo: Curecanti National Recreation Area