The Changing Earth

The gentle breeze caressed my hair as I ran through the trees towards the rock. The rock that held all the wonderful secrets of the world, the rock that will always remain there strong for me to come back to. Even as my legs became numb and my breaths became short, I still persisted, determined to uncover the wondrous parts of the world. 

When I arrived, I desperately threw over the rock to discover the rapidly crawling pill bugs that rolled into a ball as the light shines down. I gently reached a hand out to carry them onto the grassy field to play with the lady bugs. As I run along the path in search of flowers and butterflies, I spot grandeur trees leaning over to offer me shade.

The path was never the same. A couple years passed since I had last visited the path, and when I went out to search for it again, I was met with barren. The trees had been cut, trash had infested the land, and there were no more birds singing in the sky. As a walk through the land, I hear the plants crunch and wither from the scorching heat. 

According to the International Fund for Animal Welfare, all around the world, the “rising temperatures affect vegetation, food sources, access to water and much more. Ecosystems may become uninhabitable for certain animals, forcing wildlife to migrate outside of their usual patterns in search of food and livable conditions, while causing other animals to die off.” 

Climate change has negatively affected all living organisms on Earth whether they are plants, animals, or humans. The loss of my childhood path is only one fraction of the terrible events happening on Earth. If climate change had completely transformed the path into an inhabitable place, imagine all the other places in the world that have also been victims of climate change.

We need to improve our communities to adapt to these rapid changes. Although we are working to slow the changes of climate change, we also need to find new ways to help the animals and plants that are currently being affected by climate change. Preventing climate change from worsening can only do so much for the world and it’s a slow process.

To develop a healthier environment, I took the initiative to plant more native plants in local communities and spread awareness about individual actions and how they affect the environment through numerous workshops. I partnered with my local elementary school to plant native plants throughout their campus and host workshops for community members to learn how they can help improve our community to fight against the rapid changes from climate change.

If people from other communities want to continue the cause, they can also host workshops and plant native plants around the community. There are numerous ways we can help the environment. Whether it’s spreading awareness about climate change and its effects or advocating for improvements to slow climate change, anyone can aid the movement towards slowing climate change.

Not only would we be helping animals and plants around the world, but we would also be helping people who have a favorite childhood path they would like to visit again.