The Caro Garden Club annually sponsors the Hazel J. Spalding High School Essay Contest on environmental issues. Our local winner’s essay is forwarded through our District VI to a Michigan Garden Club competition and can potentially go on to compete regionally and then for National Garden Club awards. We are proud of last year’s essay written by Lillian Hessling, now a recent Caro High School graduate. Her essay went on to be judged second in the nation.
This year’s first place essay was written by Leslie Licudine, a Caro High School senior, awarding her a prize of $200. She has also received first place in the District VI contest, a $100 prize, and first in the state with a $300 prize. Her essay will now go on to compete in the Central Region contest. Her essay, ‘Challenges in Protecting our Natural Habitat’, follows.
“The budding awareness of the Earth’s vulnerability to human actions also provides an opportunity to divert the limelight to the value of natural ecosystems and the lifeline that they provide. In more recent times, people around the globe have been paying more attention to how they are utilizing their resources and if they are making a conscientious effort to reduce their wasteful habits and take action against this global crisis, or are they just saying that because the media has brought to attention the BT Policy Paper by David Spratt and Ian Dunlop’s research that human civilization will crumble in 2050 if serious mitigation actions are not taken in the next decade?
“Environment saving” trends like pocket metal straws or “1 Facebook share = 1 tree planted” are companies simply capitalizing off of the world dying and taking advantage of the “I’m in the mood to save the planet now even after I spent my whole life buying from manufacturers who are extremely unethical and have a history of malicious degradation of the environment in the manufacturing of their products” fad. Fast fashion industries are especially harming the planet in its abuse of the environment as well as third world countries. This corruption is one of the biggest barriers to protecting our natural habitats and real conservation efforts need to take place. The most important step in taking action against this global crisis of dying natural habitats is to expand our knowledge and understanding of sustainability and conservation. Conservation efforts preserve sensitive habitats for animals and plants, revitalize endangered species, and save precious natural space from development.
We love the Earth. However, is our love for our home strong enough to save it for future generations, or are we just going to let it die off when we are approaching our own individual fates and we will no longer inhabit it? The hard part is knowing where to start. Reducing your plastic consumption and carbon emissions is a step in the right direction, but how you came to make that decision is even more important. We want to defend this planet’s life and all those who inhabit it out of love and the genuine desire to protect the precious lives who inhabit it. We say we love the Earth, but we can’t love the Earth if we do not love the fish in the oceans rising in elevation, the polar bears in the melting Arctic, or the woodland animals whose homes are being chopped down for profit. The Earth’s biggest enemy is human behavior and it is the wall that divides us from making a positive change.
The environment as a whole should be a priority, not an afterthought. We should not buy our vehicles that are 10 miles to a gallon and then decide that we should reduce carbon emissions. According to Harvard economist Martin Weitzman, Equilibrium Climate Sensitivity could be as high as 10°C, which could be catastrophic considering that the temperature difference between now and the last ice age is about 5°C and it took several thousand years for that increase to occur. With our unchanging habits, we could possibly double thousands of years of evolutionary climate change into 30 years. Some people prefer living in ignorance, but the stagnant lifestyle we uphold compared to the rate of the Earth dying do not complement each other and soon, realization will hit and ignorance isn't bliss after all.
Distinct polarization between political parties also hinders our efforts to change because of the rejection of research and science. The denial is over, we cannot keep pretending that the overwhelming number of hurricanes is normal and the dying rainforests and coral reefs is just evolutionary change. It’s time to put our differences aside and come together on one thing, even if it is just one thing we all share: protecting the Earth from ourselves.”
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