Skipping for Cause: Students Across Globe Ditch School for Climate Change
When the climate is failing and plants are fading away, the issue about climate change shouldn’t be a fight between political parties. It is a fight that everyone needs to face together.
Climate change is real. It can show up in abnormal temperatures, weather types acting abnormally and volcanoes, earthquakes and hurricanes becoming more severe. There are also species dying or becoming extinct without explanation. Nearly 40% of bee’s died in 2018, due to Colony Collapse Disorder and Climate Change. Last year, Blue Macaws, the bird from the movie Rio, unexpectedly went extinct. In September, Hurricane Florence hit land fall in North Carolina. This hurricane was already expected to be a bad one for the East Coast; however, the hurricane was much worse than predicted. Scientists claimed that rainfall with this hurricane is 50% worse and the hurricane followed a not so normal path. These reasons are exactly why we should all advocate for some type of change in the care of our planet.
On March 15, students staged walk outs during school to protest the fact that no one is doing anything for the planet. There were strikes planned in almost every state, and in 100 countries. In the U.S., strike participants were also supporting the Green New Deal, created by New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, that would make a complete transition of renewable energy by 2030. However, the Green New Deal is only one solution to this major problem.
Other solutions presented are teaching more about climate change in school. Climate change also correlates with changing the way we drive and the way we use our trash. Austin and other major cities have banned plastic bags from shopping, forcing residents to use reusable bags. Hawaii and both Disney Parks banned plastic straws, which encourages the use of more planet-friendly alternatives such as paper or reusable straws. Hawaii also has banned a common chemical in sunscreen, saying that the chemical can destroy coral reefs.
Our world is changing, and it is time we start caring more for our dying earth while we still have it. If adults won’t listen, it is time for students to take the lead on climate change. Students need to convince adults to start panicking.
Maci Weathers is a senior, and this is her third year on the newspaper staff. Weathers joined newspaper because she was interested in the idea of Journalism. ...
Isaiah Casarez • Jan 13, 2020 at 1:05 am
Dear Maci,
Counter Argument: Although, plastic bags, straws, and some sunscreen cause climate change and damage habitats, many large companies and businesses run off of those things. Cutting this out would mean losing millions of jobs.
Argument: In order to put a stop to use of the products would cost companies lots of money which would ultimately cause employees to make less money and cause many problems in our economy. These companies could go out of business or have to cut many employees due to lower income and leave many people jobless.
Gunnar Willis • Jan 11, 2020 at 10:50 pm
Hi Maci,
I agree with you that something should be done about climate change, species going extinct and ecosystems collapsing isn’t something that should be bypassed, but I don’t agree with the way you want to go about achieving this. Ditching classes will do absolutely nothing in helping the climate. Even if it is to protest the way that world leaders are doing nothing to help it, school has no correlation with climate change whatsoever. It makes absolutely no sense to skip class protest of climate change.
If you truly want to make a change you should protest in other ways, for example going to Washington and having a peaceful protest about it. Climate change is a real problem and needs to be worked on, but skipping classes isn’t the way to do it.
makaylee nelson • Jan 10, 2020 at 2:23 pm
Dear Maci,
Counter Argument: I don’t think people are fully responsible for climate change. I believe that the Earth is just doing its natural thing. Yes, people can help with plastic and air pollution and trash, stuff like that, but no one can really help with all of the other negative effects on the Earth. However, I don’t think it is necessary for kids to ditch school for climate reasons. Also, it doesn’t seem like teachers absolutely need to teach about climate change.
Argument: I agree that people are in the wrong by littering and using plastic products every day, and that they could at least help climate change a little bit. People could reuse their plastic cups, use metal/paper straws, use paper sacks instead of plastic, etc. Therefore, people can and should help make a change.
bryson loveday • Jan 9, 2020 at 3:52 pm
Back in the 70’s, everyone said we were gonna go back into an ice age and now it’s that the world is gonna overheat. The world itself is almost uncontrollable and it may be getting hotter but it knows how to correct itself. So when it’s 2050 and everyone is back to complaining about how the world is gonna freeze again you can come back to this comment.
Ethan • Oct 23, 2019 at 5:41 pm
I have the opinion that climate change isn’t entirely humanities fault but i do admit we may have taken a small part in it.But the thing to remember is that the more carbon dioxide that is in the atmosphere,the more rocks and plants will suck in more.The Earth has been getting greener and even if all the ice melts there are new benefits to less or no ice as like in Canada,Russia,Greenland and even Antarctica will make many places more in habitable and also open up new shipping routes and mining opportunities. And while yes it is sad that many species are dying,There is more pandas,more polar bears and more of other species due to large organized funding to preserve these species.But a lot of animals have adapted to the environment changing and there is always going to be species going extinct no matter the year.The only major issues i can see is an increase in the mosquito and some other insects that carry disease increase leading to more Malaria,yellow fever,and Lyme disease.There pro’s and cons and all humans are good at focusing on are the cons so maybe we should reevaluate our opinion of climate change.
Kaleb Coggins • Apr 26, 2019 at 9:14 am
I don’t believe in climate change, I feel that the world might just be undergoing a change of sorts. Look back at the ice age, there was no one there to start it, the earth just got really cold due to a change in the axis rotation. Then it ended, no person was around changing climate with a few fires. We might just be going through the opposite of an ice age, and if it’s humanity’s time to go, then there’s no point in fighting it.