Our planet is slowly dying and calling out for help

Today I would like to talk to you about a subject that is very important at this point in our journey on this planet! I believe that we all need to open our eyes and see what we are really doing to our planet: it is slowly dying and calling out for help. It´s true that whether we want it or not, the world is in constant change and there’s no evil in that, but when those changes are directly our fault and are helping to kill the planet and ourselves, maybe we should stop and think twice before doing anything else! Climate change, put into general terms, is an alteration of the composition of the atmosphere, caused mainly by global warming and its results are visible, for example, in the melting of polar ice caps, rising of sea levels, desertification, extreme weather conditions. Although many of us don´t feel the changes, unfortunately, most consequences above are already affecting millions of people around the globe. We all need to open our eyes and see what we are really doing to our planet: it is slowly dying and calling out for help. The truth is we all do harm to the planet even if we don’t mean to. On the other hand, we have a very simple solution to help address this huge problem. It is called sustainability, a socio-ecological process based on the idea of using our resources in a way that assures those same resources are left to the upcoming generations. It includes three basic elements that must complement each other: environmental, economic and social sustainability. I wish to see the world investing in eco-friendly solutions for energy, transportation and in the food industry, given the fact that these are the ones that contribute the most for global warming. Personally, I’d like for people to open their eyes about climate change because it is far more serious than we might think it is. We all see the amount of trash that ends up in the sea, on the streets, basically everywhere except where it truly belongs, and most of the times we do nothing about it and would rather walk past it than stop and pick it up, because “it’s not your trash” or “you don’t throw trash to the floor”. The truth is we all do harm to the planet even if we don’t mean to. We can all help to spread the message and make other people believe that our planet is dying and we are its killers. By doing nothing, those who might care are accomplices to everyone else that doesn’t care (despite knowing what is happening). The world is on fire, you can see it and so can the others. You scream that it is on fire and yet the others ignore the fire. They will tell that it’s just smoke but you cannot believe them. You can only put out the fire if people admit that it is a fire. So somehow we have to find a way to make the world stop and start doing something instead of ignoring this very real problem. Speaking for myself, I’ve always been more connected to the “world” the nature, given the fact that I have done garbage sweeps in the woods and beaches. That made me look at the environment in a different way, made me passionate about protecting nature and be more tuned into the simple things we can all do. I started not only doing these things, but also started volunteering in projects that help to protect the world.  That all made me more open and gave me more passion to talk to people about this issue and one of my missions is trying to change their minds about it and make people understand that we have to act now! We all need to play our part to protect nature. Start by doing simple things like: recycling at your own house; start to use a reusable water bottle, instead of buying plastic ones, carry around a portable ashtray (if you’re a smoker) - and don’t buy one. Use your imagination and make one with reusable materials you find. Get together with your friends, go to the beach and at the end of the day go and pick up some of the trash that sits in the sand or in the sea. There are so many little things we all can do to help. We cannot rely on politicians or heads of governments to take the lead as individuals because they have internalized the fragmented human condition so completely as to make themselves useless for this task. It is up to us, the people of Earth, to make this happen. The time for action is now. Tomorrow will clearly be too late