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The Apocalypse is Now – and It’s Green
"In my lifetime, I'll likely witness more destructive droughts, floods, hurricanes, tornados, widespread disease, refugees, and the extinction of plants, animals and cultures."
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to this Commentary!
By Jihan Gearon
I've seen my future and it's scary. It involves hurricanes, floods, destruction, mass evacuations, disease and death. Hurricane Katrina has been a serious wake up call for me. As a young person, I can't help but gnash my teeth at the people and events that have led up to this crucial point in the world's history and wonder why we still refuse to acknowledge and take meaningful action against our own self-destruction.
I’ve often been asked why I care about these sort of things. My mother and grandmother are both strong influences in my life, and the days I spent taking long walks in the woods with them foster my care for the environment to this day. Also, being Navajo, growing up on the Navajo reservation, being constantly surrounded by red rocks, pinon pines, mesas, mountains, and the best sunsets I’ve ever seen, made me feel close to the earth and made me feel like I belong to it. But although these experiences contribute to my connection to the earth, activism is my choice.
The truth is, nothing can make you care about the environment or the issue of climate change. I’ve thought about it and decided that it’s something I care about. As a young person, I believe it is my responsibility to pay attention to the world around me, to have hope for the future, and to effect positive change.
As I look around me, I'm frightened. Climate change is happening. Scientists, environmental and social justice organizations and regular people who live close to the earth have been warning us about it for decades. And still, Americans continue to question these warnings.
All I have to do to believe global warming is look back on the past year. I remember the rain and mudslides in Southern California, the tornados in San Francisco, the severe drought in the Midwest and the deadly heat waves in the Southwest -- all unprecedented and "out of the ordinary." I just have to listen to stories from my home on the Navajo Nation about the difficulty of growing crops, raising animals, finding medicines and living a traditional lifestyle. And taken as a whole, these things not only convince me, but make me angry.
Our government still refuses to take action. Big energy continues to fight tooth and nail to preserve our fossil fuel energy-based society, knowing full well our future is at stake. Why are our leaders sacrificing my future and the livelihood of future generations?
Looking at the world around me, I must admit, I'm discouraged by what I see. We are past the point of no return, and we will face many more Katrinas. In my lifetime, I'll likely witness more destructive droughts, floods, hurricanes, tornados, widespread disease, refugees, and the extinction of plants, animals and cultures. I know that at this moment, hope is a little hard to come by.
But as a young person, it is my responsibility to have hope. I hope that in my lifetime, I’ll also witness an awakening and rebirth of our society in which sustainability, equity, foresightedness and compassion are valued. I believe it’s possible. I believe there’s a better way to do things. And I believe that we have the ability to make this change.
Today, I work for organizations dedicated to the creation and implementation of climate policies that are efficient and fair for everyone. I take public transportation, I turn off the lights when I don’t need them, and I’m glad to report I’ve reduced my consumer habit. In my work, I try and make it easy for other youth to get involved by teaching them about the issues, providing opportunities for them to organize for change, and showing them that they can be leaders.
I work everyday to change what I don't like in the world so my hopes are realized. Call me a naïve youth, but I’m hoping Hurricane Katrina will make more people take on their responsibilities to the earth, to each other, to each other and to the future of both.
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