My climate story, Mica, age 11

I am eleven years old, hopefully I have much longer to be left on this planet. I don't like to see my planet dying, so we need to save it from climate change. I first became involved in activism when I watched the film “Chasing Ice,” which made me very upset. I dictated a letter to my parents and they mailed it to our state senator, Jon Tester. This all happened at the age of three.  

Fires have become bigger and more frequent in Montana where I live. The fires affect me and other people in many ways. The smoke two years ago kept me inside for six weeks in August and September and when school started we had to have indoor recess for over three weeks. The smoke causes me to have headaches, fatigue and itchy eyes, so I often can't go camping, hiking, running and playing outside. Our town used to have fall running races and now they have been moved to early summer because of the bad smoke that now happens almost every year.  

This summer, a forest fire started one mile away from my house. We live in the woods, so I was very scared because of how close the fire was to our house. Our neighbours told us they could see smoke and that they had called 911. Soon helicopters flew over our house up to the fire to scout it out. I watched, wondering what would happen to us and our house. I packed a bag of important stuff just in case we had to evacuate. Later on, we went up to talk to the fire fighters to see what was happening. They had gotten the fire under control. Fires naturally happen where I live, but not as often or as intense as they have been recently. An increase in spring precipitation causes more under-growth and grass to grow, and when this is followed by a lack of rain in the summer and an increase in summer temperatures, the extra dried up under-growth can more easily be caught on fire.

My favorite animal is the Pika. They are facing extinction due to climate change and their numbers are declining quickly. They must live in a cool environment, so they keep moving to higher elevations on the mountains to escape the heat. Soon they won’t be able to move farther up the mountain and they will have nowhere to go. I would hate to see them disappear.  

So that we don’t have frequent fires and smoke, and an extinction of Pikas, we need to go to zero emissions by 2050 or sooner. That is why I have decided to take action against climate change. Every Friday morning I miss school so I can go to a meeting to organize and take action against climate change. I also try to not use plastic, drive less, eat local food, and use solar energy. I hope that people take climate change seriously and take action so I can have a future. 

—

Get Involved

Share your climate story, or write a letter to the future to inspire climate action.