2015 Expressions on a Sustainable UMD: The Power to Change May 2015 | Page 8

Judy Baho
Government and Politics
Class of 2017
People seem to think that we, as humans, are going down a road
that will destroy the Earth. And we are held to this idea; this idea
that tells us we must fight climate change because if we do not,
we will bring apocalyptic annihilation to our Earth. However, it is
only our arrogance has us believing that we can destroy the
planet. But that’s not true. The only thing we can destroy is
ourselves. The Earth does not need us. Nature does not need us.
We are not the worst thing Nature has been through. Toxic
atmospheres and meteors and ice ages have come and gone,
and Nature still creates life.
But if we won’t destroy the Earth, why should we care about
climate change? If we are not going to doom every living
organism on the planet, why modify our lifestyles? Why carpool and sort our trash and take short
showers? We do it for us. We need the Earth. We need Nature.
The millions of people that will lose their only source of clean water as sea levels rise need us to
stop wasting so much energy on driving around huge hunks of metal. The hundreds of thousands
that will fall ill when malaria-carrying mosquitoes expand their territories as temperatures rise
need us to stop depending on renewable sources of energy. When we were younger, we were
told to leave a better planet for our grandchildren. A few years ago, that was changed to leaving a
better planet for our children. And now, scientists are saying that we won’t even hit middle-age
before we start feeling the effects of our actions.
There are frogs that freeze solid come winter and thaw the following spring unharmed and ready
to continue life. There are giant tubeworms that flourish near water so hot the only thing keeping it
from boiling is the extreme water pressure