Money. Money, unfortunately, kind of defines us. I mean think about it, it decides where we live, what school we go to, and at school the friends you make. So ultimately money defines our life. And you might be thinking it wouldn’t affect wealthy people, but I think it would impact them greatly. People might look at them differently, expect them to donate ALL of their money to charity. All of this is because of something so simple yet so complex, called money.
The reason global warming is happening is because of money. Coal is burned because it is cheaper than solar energy or windmills.If some of the multi-billionaires with all that money chipped in- maybe we could do more research on cheaper and easier ways to make solar affordable to everyone. And all those billionaires and millionaires are already doing a lot of charities. Take Bill Gates, for example, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is already is donating a boat load of money to clean drinking water. But the reason they are helping drinking water is because of global warming and water pollution making the water dirty.
I’m not saying that it’s only the people with money that can make a change though. We all have the power to do that. If you live in a city, do you really need your own car? Here in Seattle there are buses, metros, light rail, BIKES and many other public or clean transportation. And guess what? They all cost less than driving your own car!!! You may now also be thinking, how is this our fault? And really it’s not necessarily YOUR fault, it’s OUR fault. If one person didn’t drive or composted all of their compostable food, it really wouldn’t make a difference. But if all of us did that, it would. So how does this relate to money? If we stopped oil company and cars, it would take away jobs, leaving lots of people unemployed, and with no money. But new jobs would open up!!! It would be a problem, yes, and I completely understand that but isn’t it worth it? Isn’t our world worth it? So many people have had their houses and jobs destroyed by extreme weather such as flooding, hurricanes and forest fires. So technically global warming also causes unemployment.
So I’m going to ask a simple question.Would you rather be employed and have a steady flow of money now and watch the world be destroyed OR go without and save the world???
by Ava
So, no cars, trucks, planes, large ships or oil? If no one had vehicles in the world, we would no longer have transportation. That would mean no goods would be transported around the world or even our country. Not everyone can grow food in their area therefore people would have to move into areas that had longer growing seasons, which would be bad for soils I assume due to leaching of minerals in soil from overuse. I could go on and on about the implications of removing our entire transportation system. I don't know where the creation of jobs comes from that you mentioned. People would no longer have all the possessions that most of us have, we would probably set ourselves back in time. There are programs for alternative energy sources that have failed or are failing because the companies could not keep their promise of how much energy they could actually produce. There are a lot of people in the world that depend on products and food from all over the world. Also think about all the plastic items you have, including your phone, computer, iPad, toothbrush, TV, etc...all products of oil as well.
ReplyDeleteThis is a response from the author of the post, Ava, a 6th grader:
ReplyDeleteI appreciate you leaving this comment because it proves that obviously my post was impactful. You questioned how jobs would be created, I explained that with the creation of clean energy there would be new jobs, and truth be told it would probably pay more money. I see your argument on no plastics, but not all of us are that conceited that we couldn't give up TV or phones. Is TV worth the destruction of the world? And people before us have lived off the land , so obviously we could do it to. And how about pedi cabs they provide jobs and they are clean alternatives.
BTW Thanks for giving a 11 YEAR OLD GIRL a chance to make a comeback to a person who doesn't even have the courage to mention their name.
Ava
This response is from the teacher, Mr. Gonzalez, who moderates this blog:
ReplyDeleteI too want to thank you, anonymous person, for taking the time to comment on our blog. I'm wondering if you thought you were commenting on a post written by an adult. These posts are written by 11 year olds. Think about that. I asked the author of the blog and her classmates if we should publish your comment. I was curious how they would take your comment.
They took it as I expected actually, they were angry and hurt. Angry that your comment had such a negative tone. Hurt that someone, who I'm assuming is an adult, put such effort into bursting their bubble.
Now as a teacher, a professional, an adult, AND a parent that is a bubble I do NOT want to burst! Our young people are NOT yet jaded by the system. NOT yet jaded by money. They still believe that the world can change for the better and they still have the ability to dream.
Don't you see? It's adults who are jaded and so stuck within the box who keep doing the same thing, sometimes even expecting different results, because they don't think they can make a difference. Kids don't suffer from that until it gets beaten out of them by adults telling them over and over again that their ideas cannot happen.
Well I for one am telling these incredible kids to dream, and to dream big, because it might just be ONE of THEIR ideas that makes the world a better place! Kids are doing big things nowadays! Kids are making a difference! And it's probably in part to not being told that their ideas can't happen, can't make a difference. Just look up WE Act or Malala.