In Our Hands: A Teen’s Thoughts on Earth’s Future
Fremont, CA
2021, Junior, Creative Writing
I have to put on a mask when I walk out of the house and head in the direction of the bus station. A mask. No, I’m not sick, and no, I’m not worried about catching germs. I am worried about inhaling too much smoke from the wildfires that have been raging throughout my state. It’s only been a little over two months since the fires started, but they have already damaged so many communities.
I live miles away from the nearest wildfire, yet I can still smell the smoke from all the way out here. Not only that, but the smoke is also engulfing our skies and covering the sun. It’s unnaturally cold for a day in September. Sunlight is barely filtering through the thick, dark puffs that resemble clouds but are really large smoke patches.
We have modified our lives at school and at home. Instead of meeting up with my friends in the courtyard, I meet them in the library. Instead of running the mile during PE, we do laps around the gymnasium. At home, we have air filters in every room, and all of our windows are closed. Next to the door of my room, there is a suitcase, which is my emergency pack. I don’t live close to the fires, but surprisingly, I have already been told to be ready for a quick escape if conditions worsen and my community is put in danger. This has never happened to me before, but the world is changing. The situations that we thought we would never be in can all become possible now.
Drier, hotter conditions and the lack of rainfall during the winter months are the main causes of the wildfires. A drought has been gripping much of my state for years. Water levels in Oroville Lake dropped drastically in 2017 because of damage to the main spillway, which has caused the recent drought to worsen since there is less water than normal. Spring and summer temperatures are rising due to climate change. The reduction of snowpack in the mountains and earlier snowmelt create more intense dry seasons. The wildfire season itself has lengthened by approximately two months and two weeks in the last decade.
I am more fortunate than those who have lost loved ones, homes, and irreplaceable possessions. I’m trying to convince myself that a little change in life is good, even though I know that’s not exactly the reason why I am so scared of these fires.
California is only so big. There is only so much space for fires to start and scorch. If these fires continue like this, burning millions of acres each year, what will be left of the Golden State in ten years? 20 years? 30? Will future generations never get to run around in our redwood forests, visit the farms in San Joaquin Valley, or walk along our coastline beaches because they have all been burned and reduced to nothing but ashes?
Our planet is getting warmer and warmer. If we don’t do something now, these fires will only intensify. There is no promise to what we will see in the future, but I know this: I want kids living in the world to be able to visit the state I grew up in and get a chance to explore the California dream for themselves. I want them to feel the smiles spread across their faces as they experience the beauty of what California has to offer: inspiration, diversity, support, and so much more.
While these wildfires and droughts have devastating effects, there are still some upsides. The droughts have reminded us that freshwater is a finite source, and as a result, many of us grow up learning effective ways to conserve water. Even though the population in the U.S. has been rising each year, freshwater usage has dropped by approximately 22% since 2000, according to the United States Geological Survey.
In addition, our generation does a better job of taking action to prevent wildfires from getting worse since we are driven by the fear of losing our homes and everything we grew up with. We do our best to reduce our carbon footprint and try to spread awareness about issues involving climate change. Carbon dioxide emissions have even dropped by 13.4% since 2005.
I realize now that the stories we need to tell are not the ones about destruction and negativity. Rather, we should be talking about people’s actions and their efforts to express how dangerous climate change is. Every situation has a bright side to it, and that’s what we should be focusing on. We can’t change what happened in the past, but we can do our best to stop it from happening in the future. I am going to do everything I can to ensure that future generations will get to live a beautiful life on this planet we call Earth. Will you join me?
Works Cited
“2021 Fire Season Outlook.” Cal Fire, www.fire.ca.gov/incidents.
“Energy-Related Carbon Dioxide Emissions by State.” Energy Information Administration, https://www.eia.gov/environment/emissions/state/analysis/pdf/table1.pdf
“Trends in Water Use in the United States, 1950 to 2015.” United States Geological Survey, https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/water-science-school/science/trends-water-use-united-states 1950-2015?qt-science_center_objects=0#qt-science_center_objects
“What to Know About California’s Drought,” Cowan, Jill. The New York Times, 30 Apr. 2021.
Reflection
Reflection
I am a California native, and since I was a fifth-grader, wildfires have been a major part of my life from late summer to early winter. My writing is based on a true experience and the real thoughts I had during the 2020 fire season. I think that was the first time I truly felt afraid of these fires because there was a major one burning in my county. We have also been hearing a lot of news about the extra-dry drought and how it could cause an even more destructive fire season than last year. These real-life events have inspired me to write about myself. I hope that after reading my writing, others will feel the need to talk about this wildfire crisis more often. Putting my experience on paper was more eye-opening than I thought. I honestly could not believe that all these words and thoughts have been hovering in the back of my mind for so long. In addition, I have learned that no living thing can live without water. It is important for us to preserve water, especially freshwater. I have also learned that California really could do with some more water right now—let’s just hope that the next wet season will be more wet than dry. I would like to emphasize and clear up the message I expressed in my writing: it is okay to be scared, but use that fear to take action and do something to slow down climate change, even if it is just a small thing. At this point, climate change is inevitable, and it will get worse and worse as time goes on. However, we can do our best to slow it down. We must preserve this planet for future generations.