Photo courtesy of Athena Thibodeau-Viana
“Pure Hell: Now a Cat 5 Hurricane Dorian makes landfall in Bahamas.”
“Hurricane Dorian moving faster toward Florida as tropical storm force winds smack coastal areas.”
The headlines crawl before my eyes. I flash back to Hurricane Irma, as I packed to evacuate, wondering: where would we go and how would we afford it?
I’m a 14-year-old climate justice activist and I know that this isn’t normal. The climate crisis is increasing the damage from hurricanes, and I’m living with the consequences. Thanks to warming Atlantic surface temperatures, more and more tropical storms are intensifying into hurricanes just as they hit land, leaving communities like mine unprepared.
Miami got lucky with Hurricane Dorian. But hurricane season isn’t over yet.
When Irma hit, my family was divided. Should we leave or stay? Where would we stay? Can we afford it? What would happen to our house? What about my tiny and fuzzy Russo and my big sweet Dulce who always wants to be on someone’s lap? I was about 12, so our dogs were my best friends.
Finally my parents decided my mom would leave with us and my dad would stay. I helped my mom stay awake as she drove. We decided to go to Tennessee and stay at a state park, safe from the storm. On our way back home I saw trees and houses destroyed, people displaced and all the power lines destroyed. Our house survived with just some downed trees and no power.
Many people in my neighborhood couldn’t afford the repairs they needed to recover from the storm or afford to buy bottled water. I realized then that people in my community of Broward are affected by the climate crisis but don’t have the time or the information to address the issue. Many can’t afford to leave or to pay the medical bills that the storms bring. Now every year when hurricane season comes there is always the thought: What will happen this year?
People who don’t live in communities impacted by climate change like to say: “Just move further inland.” But most of the people impacted by the climate crisis can’t just get up and leave. They can’t buy an electric car, they can’t go vegetarian, and they can’t quit their jobs because the fossil fuel industry allows them to put food on the table.
It’s hard not to feel powerless when big polluters are running our government. But there’s one thing I can do. I can strike, like thousands of other students across the world have done. On September 20, I’ll be one of millions of students on #ClimateStrike from school, and I hope adults will join us.
We need to realize that the climate crisis is happening now. Not the year 2090, but now in 2019. I am striking September 20 for climate solutions now, not when the next hurricane comes and puts thousands of people on the street with their homes destroyed.
I am asking you to join us on September 20 to stand in solidarity with the youth. Adults have the power to disrupt the business-as-usual politics that have led us to the brink of climate destruction. Injustice and greed created the climate crisis. The only way we can fight back is by fighting for a just and sustainable world that works for all of us and doesn't leave anyone out.