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Making Changes: One CHS Student Reflects on Her Environmental Activism BY EMMA LAFLEUR
If we don’t make a change as soon as possible there will be no turning back. It is our responsibility to make the changes that we are capable of making, no matter how insignificant it may seem. One quote which has stuck with me regarding this topic is from Jane Goodall, who once said, In order to make this difference, we need to choose as a society to make the effort. There will be no future for us if we don’t start making changes. “You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”
Making Changes
Our planet is on a timer, ticking down faster and faster everyday. With each passing moment, we lose more and more opportunities to reverse the effects we’ve had on Earth. As of 2023, experts believe that we only have ten years before we reach the point of no return. We only have ten years to undo the damage, with the time we have left shortening with every single day. The end of the world won’t come with a bang or abruptly, it will happen quietly and slowly with most people not even realizing it’s too late. It is for this reason that I do whatever I can to spread awareness on this topic and encourage people to make even the smallest of changes to make the smallest of differences.
My interest in climate change, specifically environmental protection, has always been present in my life. It wasn’t until recently, however, that I was introduced to the concept of putting this interest into a future line of work. Growing up, I was always interested in nature and the natural world, always saying how I wanted to be a biologist or a zookeeper or any number of different jobs that one would expect from a child. As I got older, I wanted to do more but I didn’t know where to start. That changed recently, as over the past summer, I was given the opportunity to intern at the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management. The RIDEM gave me a new perspective on how I can use my passions to further my education and my future. I was given a particularly relevant role because I was placed with the Department of Forestry and Agriculture, where I learned even more about the impact climate change is having on our little state alone.
In Rhode Island, we’ll be hit especially hard by the impacts of climate change. Being so close to the coast puts us in a situation where we will continue to get smaller as sea levels rise. During my time with the DEM, I learned more and more about the different ways that climate change will impact us. This gave me an entirely new understanding of how I can make a difference in a more impactful way than I was before. Over the course of my internship, I was introduced to some of the species that are at threat of completely disappearing from Rhode Island, from our towering trees to some of the smallest bugs we have. These species, while indirect, are being destroyed by climate change. Getting hands on experience with just how fragile our ecosystem can be made me realize just how important it is to make these changes now.
There are countless ways that anyone can make a change for the better in their daily life. It can be as simple as reusing plastic bags or recycling a cardboard box. It could be advocating for change or teaching the people around you something new. Everyone is capable of making a change for the better, even if it seems like a challenging or daunting task. However, it is necessary to make these changes now before it’s too late.
If we don’t make a change as soon as possible there will be no turning back. It is our responsibility to make the changes that we are capable of making, no matter how insignificant it may seem. One quote which has stuck with me regarding this topic is from Jane Goodall, who once said, In order to make this difference, we need to choose as a society to make the effort. There will be no future for us if we don’t start making changes. “You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”