Disaster approaching

Teens in today’s world are labeled as lazy and non-committal in our opinions. While teens often refute this, there are so many problems in today’s world that kids ignore. Many of us seem more preoccupied with college applications than the fact that some of our biggest cities will be under water within the next 100 years because of climate change. Sure, we hear about how terrible we are treating our world and how terrible our lives will be once the climate increases in temperatures and how ice caps are melting.

But do we truly care?

No one does. The people in voting age right now are not voting for politicians that are evoking change in the way we are protecting our earth. While voter turnout for ages 18-26 were only 46.1 percent, voters above 65 had a 70 percent turn out.

These old people are the ones that won’t even be around to see these climate problems in the future. While our generation and the generation above us will be experiencing climate problems and other troubles, we are not voting in large enough numbers to have any change. If we care about our futures, we have to get out and figure out solutions to our own problems, we cannot rely on retirees to make our future decisions for us when they won’t even be around to see their effects.

Many people don’t realize the problems we are going to be facing in even the USA when climate change effects are seen everywhere. Already, in countries in Africa and the Middle East, as well as India, they are experiencing the negative effects of climate change.

They are running out of water. The weather patterns have been changing so much, they are getting little to no rain for large portions of their rainy season, when they grow crops, and then when they do get any rains, it comes in torrents, flooding their fields and killing all their crops, and subsequently, their paychecks.

Already, rivers all over the world are drying up. Take the Indus river in Southern Pakistan, for example. In 2009, some parts of the river were only half a foot wide, and in 2010, those same parts are almost 10 feet wide. This influx of water is only a result of record breaking monsoon storms that are flooding cities and homes.

In America, we are drying up aquifers and lakes because of our gigantic intake of water that is completely unsustainable. In the near future, many African countries are going to be experiencing even larger widespread drought, and there will be no rain coming to help them out. If rain does come, their ground will be so dried up that nothing will absorb it, causing flooding and death.

Water and oil wars will become normal. We will increase military presence in countries that have oil just so we can get out hands on it. People will be fighting to get into countries with water just so their families survive another day.

Our current methods of living are not sustainable. We are burning oil, literally and figuratively, on our comfortable lives in America. Things are good now, we are living our lives like normal, driving our gas-guzzling cars, burning coal to power our houses, and throwing away everything.

But we have to think about our future.

And that’s what it is.

This is no longer a problem future generations will face. This is us. These are the true problems that we will be facing.

We have to change.

We have to vote in policy makers that are going to have stricter regulations for corporations, and we have to encourage these lawmakers to care about more than just the present, but care about our futures.

Small changes will not do anything on a larger scale. One person deciding to drive and electric car or not throw anything away for the rest of their lives is not going to change anything.

They only way we can solve these environmental issues is to have our laws and regulations changed. That is the only way. The only way to truly invest in our future is not to only save for college, but to vote in the people who are truly wanting to do good, and effect change around the globe.

That will change the world, that will change our future.