2015 Expressions on a Sustainable UMD: The Power to Change May 2015 | Page 12

Maya Spaur
Environmental Science and
Technology, and Government
and Politics
Class of 2017
Fighting climate change is important to me because the
world is important to me. My life as well as the lives of the
many people I love and care about, depend on this planet
for its existence. To say nothing of the beauty of Earth, the
beauty of an unexploited old growth forest; of coral reefs that
have never been painted dull from coral bleaching; of snow capped mountain peaks and glaciers,
harsh and incredible giants immune to the green and complicated world below; these are just a
few of the natural wonders of our world, and I wish I could say I have seen them in their natural,
unpolluted splendor. Sadly, I never will, and neither will you. This is a tragedy of its own accord,
but we must think beyond the sheer beauty of Earth as it is, naturally. We must accept that
humankind’s excavation, consumption, and combustion of Earth’s finite resources has
exacerbated global warming and caused climate change. Yet Earth cannot afford for us to stand
idly by. We cannot afford to let this process continue for long.
As an inhabitant of this Earth, I believe it is my responsibility to take action and fight climate
change. If I do not do my part in mitigating climate change, I cannot expect anyone else to do the
same. Right now, millions of people around the world are living in dire circumstances, their
communities ravaged by drought, desertification, sea level rise, and extreme weather and/or
flooding events. Often, the people worst affected are also the ones who can least afford it, who
have the least ability to adapt to or move away from such changes. The effects climate change
will wreak on public health could be disastrous if we do not act now.
It is up to me, to us, to save the lives of all of those people; to ensure the future health and
prosperity of the people I know and love, as well as the people I do not know but also love. It is up
to me to save the ocean creatures facing dire warming, far more extreme than what we feel on
land; to save the rare and endangered species in our tropical rainforests, whose medical
capabilities may forever remain unknown.
I have hope because I know I will not be fighting this fight alone; hundreds of thousands of people
marched by my side in the People’s Climate March. When it seems the corporate and fossil fuel
interests have won again, there is a peaceful army of people who are not afraid to stand up and
rise against them, again and again, because what other choice do we have? We stand up for
selfish and selfless reasons. The future of everyone and everyt