Two Green Leaves

Although most kids these days are often quite busy playing soccer, or persistently fidget spinning, some are looking to the future. Not the next day at school, but to their adulthood, when climate change may be irreversible. Specifically, 21 kids aged 9-20 are suing the federal government for not protecting their rights to a healthy climate and stable ecosystem. These youth plaintiffs are part of an organization called Our Children’s Trust, founded by Julia Olsen on August 15, 2015 which happens to be National Youth Day. If they succeed, the federal government will be legally required to take specific actions to decrease carbon dioxide emissions to a safe level. They’ve been gaining the attention of people around the world, and are making some of us believe that a healthy future may not be too far off after all.

     Yesterday I got back from a week long trip on the other side of the country. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity in the sense that Citizens Climate Lobby or CCL raised over one thousand dollars for us to go there. Both Jeremy and I have lobbied in Oregon's capital Salem multiple times, however, this was our first time lobbying in Washington DC where it can make the largest impact.

     I saw a video posted by Mark Rober explaining that the school system and how they make you learn, is screwed up. He did an interesting experiment with the goal being to get people to code, so they thought. The goal was actually to see how people perform better with different types of 'coaching' or notifications, so each time you answered a question or task wrong, it'd either subtract 5 points if you got test A, or say "Try Again" if you got test B. Our schools are based around the idea that each question if wrong gives your score fewer points; which in the study performed the worst.

Here is a post that I wrote for Our Climate. Hope you enjoy, learn about the bills, and take action.

The world today is filled with significant events, and the news seems to scramble to cover everything. I listen to the news every day, and climate change is sometimes slipped into the daily news as a side topic. That is because climate change is always happening, and it would not be anything new if the news reported that the climate was changing. So with all the news today, climate change seems insignificant. But it is the opposite of that. Climate change will have devastating effects to our planet if the only response to it is inaction. Even today, our planet has seen increases in ocean acidification, collapses of ecosystems, extinction or endangerment of keystone species, droughts, hurricanes, malaria and zicha, sea level rise, wildfires, crop failure, climate refugees, economy collapses, smog, fresh water scarcity, and a seemingly endless amount more. Inaction will only make it worse.

Welcome to the Trump Era. Over the past two weeks, I’ve still found it difficult to believe that America has elected a narcissist to the most powerful and respected position in the country. The executive actions Trump is currently taking are powerful enough to affect our personal lives and puncture the shield surrounding our natural and basic human rights. As the second largest producer of carbon dioxide in the world, and the wealthiest country in the world, America struggles to preserve the environment we live in. With a president who invests in and supports the very companies that inflict damage upon our environment, only time will tell what nature has in store.

In this article, I will be explaining what Donald Trump has done or intends to do regarding the environment and climate change.