Students at Roosevelt are becoming vocal about climate change and starting to express their frustrations about an issue that they didn’t cause but can feel, see, and clearly understand.
“2023 was the warmest year since global records began in 1850, by a wide margin,” according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Scientists from around the world can tell you precisely why: “Human activities, principally through emissions of greenhouse gases, have unequivocally caused global warming,” according to the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. “Global greenhouse gas emissions have continued to increase, with unequal historical and ongoing contributions arising from unsustainable energy use, land use and land-use change, lifestyles and patterns of consumption and production across regions, between and within countries, and among individuals.”
Fromsis Ali, a sophomore, spells it out. “My planet is dying,” she said.
The surface temperature changes are stark. You can see it clearly in this graph:
NASA documents how the amount of Co2 in the atmosphere has doubled due to human activity, highlighting the need for our leaders to reverse how humanity is treating the Earth.
Though there is a dire need for action for climate change, students feel that the people they trust to make big decisions aren’t doing enough and are trying to escape our joint responsibility to our planet. Students at Roosevelt are becoming more aware of the inaction of our leaders and frustration is brewing.
“Honestly yeah, I think a lot of higher-ups are lazy and they don’t feel like dealing with the situation now and want to leave it to us in the future when they’re old, so they don’t have to worry about it,” Ali said.
Students at Roosevelt are calling out our leaders for their inaction to climate change and are expressing the effect their inaction has had on them. This issue is affecting and being observed by students and teachers.
Social Studies Instructional Coach Samantha Averett says that inaction on climate change is “a miscarriage of justice.” She said the voices and ideas of young people are better than older ideas, and adults “are not listening.”
NAF Academy Director Julian Hipkins hears concerns from Roosevelt students, but also from his two children, aged eight and four. “My daughter started a group at her school called World Savers. They focus in their school on recycling and everything.”
“I often talk to both of my daughters about the only home we have right now is Earth,” Hipkins said. “Perhaps in the future – the moon or Mars or other planets, but right now, all we have is Earth, so we have to take care of it because it’s the only home we have.”
