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Environment and Climate Crisis

Author profile picture Maeve Schaffer
i
Recipient profile picture Boris Johnson
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4 November
Dear Boris Johnson,
Destruction of homes. Mass starvation. Devastation on a mass scale. My future isn't looking too great right now. Climate change always felt so far off, and for your generation, Mr. Johnson, you may be lucky enough to avoid its most dire consequences. My friends and I, however, have its effects to look forward to. In August this year, scientists confirmed many of their worst fears: the Gulf Stream is on the brink of collapse. The Gulf Stream was never something I, or anyone else I imagine, knew a lot about. Yet, it's collapse is something that will destroy the world as we know it, and no-one is talking about it anymore. You may have read it in the news, grimaced, then scrolled on, but as I read its potential 10–20-year prognosis it caused me to have a major existential crisis. Is my life now meaningless? Are my hopes and dreams for nothing? Will I ever get to see the Northern Lights or Easter Island or the Great Pyramids of Giza? Most importantly, can you tell me what is the point? What’s the point in putting money into my pension? What’s the point in paying off my student loan? What’s the point in anything if the people in power aren’t doing enough to save my future? But you can do enough. You can substantially reduce emissions. You can set a precedent on the world stage. All your talk about levelling up, YOU can level up the world with every gram of CO2 saved from entering the atmosphere and the ocean. Stop making promises that may or may not come into fruition, and change the system that thrives off wastefulness, emissions, and pollution. You might accuse me of being dramatic or being a “snowflake”, but at this point it is hard to deny the inevitability of the climate crisis looming ahead of us. It is not illogical to feel anxious. Give me hope. Give my generation and all the generations below a future to save for, to be excited for, to live for.

Maeve Schaffer

Author profile picture Maeve Schaffer

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