What the future of our environment holds

Jalil Boston
7th Grade
Slauson Middle School

Twenty years from now, I’ll be 32 years old, forced to raise kids where they can’t play outside, where they can’t even stand in the sunlight without worrying about skin cancer, and can’t make a simple trip to the grocery store without having to be concerned about acid rain.

The constant fear of super tornadoes, flash floods and season long droughts because of global warming will be yearly occurrences (the Winter temperatures average record highs, while the summers are dry and the heat index averages 105 degrees Fahrenheit in the Midwest states).

What can we do to prevent this from happening? Here’s my idea…my parents have taught me a lot about accountability. For instance, take my room. If it is messy with clothes and trash everywhere, I’m unable to be comfortable, I can’t invite my friends over and every thing is just a big mess. It soon becomes embarrassing for anyone to see, even me. I couldn’t just leave my room messy like that because I didn’t feel like cleaning it up. Eventually, my parents would punish me for having such a dirty and unkempt room.

With natural disasters like tsunamis, hurricanes and wild fires we should have learned one thing: The way we treat the earth is exactly the way it will treat us. The earth, just like my room, it is not enough to mess it up and then clean it up, we have to prevent the mess from happening and be held accountable. If we continue on our current environmental path, we have yet to see the worst of mother nature.

I do things for the environment like recycle newspapers, bottles, old computers, cell phones, soda cans, and liquid containers. My family and I do things like reduce the amount of gas use, air-conditioning, burning oil and reduce the amount of times we use aerosol cans. My family doesn’t smoke, we have plants all over our house, we car pool when it’s necessary and take the city bus when it is accessible.

Each year, global warming will continue to get worse if we are effortlessly making the little progress we are now. While recycling and reducing the usage of our natural resources helps me do my part, I feel the biggest thing I could do is ask our government to require that more individuals, families, cities and states be held accountable for the poor care of the environment.

I feel that children and adults alike have a voice in this matter, as this planet is something that we all inherit from one generation and pass on to the next.

http://www.theride.org/pdf/BugWinningEssay.pdf (abridged)

Students of 11 teachers from seven Ann Arbor Public Schools participated in the essay contest. From more than 200 entries, a group of 13 finalists was selected .

Slauson Middle School seventh-grader Jalil Boston (second from left) receives congratulations from his teacher, Teresa Schneider (far right) and his father, Heath Boston, after learning from AATA Manager of Community Relations Mary Stasiak (left) that his essay on environmental stewardship was chosen for top honors in AATA's recent competition.