We all know that climate change is a big problem. Scientists advise completely cutting carbon emissions by the year 2050, but we all know that won’t happen if the same type of people stay at the top of governments and the biggest businesses. This is why the children’s protests started, to get adults to listen to us, to listen to the scientists telling us that the world is almost guaranteed to end if nothing is changed. Now that people are starting to take notice of all the students leaving school to march for climate change, it’s time for the next step.
Adults have taken notice of our outcry, congratulating us on taking action and speaking for ourselves. What they don’t see is our legal inability to take action: We cannot vote. It is the adults who can vote, who can make changes to the current systems guarding fossil fuels and unsustainable agriculture. The ones that can listen are the ones that we have to directly reach out to. We are dying, and they should be taking care of us. They should be making a world that is fit for their children, instead of actively destroying it more. Without their vote and their power to put the world on the right track, us kids can do nothing but watch the world burn, despite our cries.
Research the statistics, dig up the images, connect data to people, show to people that the world is dying and nothing is being done about it. Data about floods, storms, extreme weather patterns, and why they are all caused by unsustainable practices of big business. Learn how to guide them towards using their votes on the right decisions, and not letting them waste their ability to truly make change.
If you can, comment any useful resources for convincing adults to use their vote, because their vote for now is all we can influence.
Hi Matthew, This article is fantastic, It’s well written and clearly shows how passionate you are about this topic. Bringing awareness to a problem has never been the final solution people need to realize that kids raising awareness is not us trying to solve global warming but us trying to wake adults up to the issue.
Hi Matthew,
Good post. Its really good to hear that young people are standing up against the most significant threatening issue of our time. Even with the activism, billionaire fossil fuel executives are still being given tax cuts and politicians are still not taking action to help in the crisis of climate change. There’s a movement thats organized by youth for climate change activism. Here’s a link to a story about it:https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-optimistic-activists-for-a-green-new-deal-inside-the-youth-led-singing-sunrise-movement.
Nice post,
Rachael
Matthew,
This is very well written. Through your writing, I can tell how strongly you feel about this topic, and that makes it incredibly captivating and interesting to read. When a writer is clear how strongly they feel about what they are writing about, it makes it much more convincing. When you said “Without their vote and their power to put the world on the right track, us kids can do nothing but watch the world burn, despite our cries,” I could really feel the emotion behind your words, which makes the argument stronger. Furthermore, I agree with what you are arguing: I think adults also need to take a stand if they want their future generations to survive. You said “We are dying, and they should be taking care of us,” which I had never really thought about before. Most teenagers who are taking a stand are still in high school, which means a large majority cannot vote or take any actions towards change because they are not old enough. Thus, adults are also a part of the change, but many adults do not see this. I found this article that relates to your topic, so I highly suggest reading it! (https://hbr.org/2019/03/young-people-are-leading-the-way-on-climate-change-and-companies-need-to-pay-attention)
Thanks for sharing this!
-Kaitlyn
HI Matthew! I really liked your article and found it very interesting. I agree with everything that you said. Climate change is more serious than ever right now, and it is crucial to do something about it. I am writing a research paper about climate change in schools, and how it is being taught. I have focused on how some kids get taught it in schools, whereas (based on the teacher’s viewpoints) some kids don’t learn about it at all. I have been saying that is is extremely important to educate children because they are the future of our planet. However, reading your article has made me think differently. I still believe it is important to teach kids, but I agree with you about how we have to teach adults. We are in school, getting this education, and they aren’t. You are absolutely right when saying that these “children’s protests started, to get adults to listen to us, to listen to the scientists telling us that the world is almost guaranteed to end if nothing is changed.” Voting, writing letters, marches, etc. are all great ways to try and get some action when talking about climate change. If us kids can keep it up, then hopefully adults can see the risk at stake, and join us. I really enjoyed your article and thought it was very well-written. It got me thinking a lot! I look forward to see what else you have to write about this topic!
Matthew-
This article is amazing! It is very well written and obvious that you spent time researching the background to voting and initiating chnage. It offered excellent insight to the issue at hand, which I personally believe all young adults are facing the burden of. We are expected to change the trajectory of the world, but this cannot change until we can vote. There needs to be a way to ensure that people are voting and using their voices to initiate change in the world! Heres a link that I believe will help you in your future research and writing (https://www.businessinsider.com/how-designers-increase-voter-turnout-2016-10)
I can’t wait to see what you write next!
Megan
Hi Matthew! We know each other in real life but Im gonna be excessively formal. I appreciate this article, and I agree that adults need to actually do something, rather than just lauding us for being “brave”. I also think it is a good idea that children cannot vote, which is dumb. the voting age should be lowered so that we can actually do stuff! Anyways check out my post its way better than this one (that was a lie for a joke this article is also very good) AND it kinda relates sort of
https://www.youthvoices.live/2020/01/21/why-children-shouldnt-be-expected-to-save-the-whole-world/