Climate change Monoloque project
ELLA PETERSEN AND LUKAS SUPOVITZ-AZNAR
Our unit of study was about climate change and what we are doing to contribute to it. In order to learn about how it affects certain people and how different parts of the globe are being affected, we used monologues. When writing monologues, we got to experience climate change through different perspectives and this helped us grasp the concept of climate change better. Climate change is not a simple thing and the only way to fully comprehend it we need to know the different ways it plays out in different places. These monologues helped us to realize that climate change is not a distant thing. It’s happening right now, and the damage is constantly being done.
Perspective of an Inuit This climate change. Its been years, and the weather continues to change my life. Climate change has changed my life. Im so used to the cold, it has been like this for my whole life. But the climate change has really gotten very drastic so it is very hard for me to continue to live my life the same way as i have always done it. I am open to change but not like this. The worst part of all of this is I know that it is only going to get worse, and I keep getting these blows. First I just have to re-locate where I live. But my tribe has lived her for so long. I don't know how it is out there, all i see is it is getting hot. In a place where it pure natural, you are alone with the winter. And every year the Autumn Freeze-up happend around the same time, but now with the climate change happening it occurs up to a month later than it should be. The spring thaw comes earlier every year, and it seems like everything that we instituted into our tribe and our culture is coming to an end. The hot weather in the summer is something that we are not used to. It is not how it is supposed to be, it melts a lot of ice, so we are not left with normal turane.
I have to start moving again, because all of the ice is getting my home damp. I don't know how long i can do this. A world leader has to do something about this, How will my kids live in this world I don't know. Something has to change, but its the environment. I can not control what happens and that is the hardest thing to understand. My whole tribe is in a frenzy, i really hate how much this involves the whole community. Poor Uhiti, he warned all of us, but we just continued to do what we did. I guess that we will deal with it, and then we will end up happier.
Victim of Hurricane sandy
Its been three days since my home has been destroyed. I would have never thought that I would be homeless. It was just a week ago where i felt on top of the world, I had just earned a raise. Sandy they called it, what a terror. Tore my whole house apart, lucky I was staying at a freinds. But how can I be upset, Its our faults right? I feel like we did this to ourselves. This hurricane would have never happened if we just cared about our environment. If we just cared about our stupid environment I wouldn't be homeless. If we just cared about our stupid environment Scrappy would be alive. Man I miss scrappy, little fella. It seems like it really came back to bite me in the butt. But it can’t all be me, I couldn't have done it myself even if i wanted to. So it was not my fault! Our goddamn society ruined my house, my city is underwater and I lost my dog. I went to college, how the hell can i be homeless.
My life is a mess, i dont even know where to start. Where will I live. And right now, i live in a ford focus. I guess not totally homeless. But if i'm not homeless i'm hopeless, I just can't seem to see the end of this. Thank god all of my friends are okay, if they were not I don't know what i would do. Damn, i wonder how badly my house is, I saw pictures and it looks like I am going have to find a new house. I guess I will just start over, time to stop double thinking myself and just commit to something, I think it will be for the better. I just can not get it out my mind that all of this could have been avoided if we as humanity cared about our home and this planet. As much as we get from the planet, we also take it for granted. And destroy it daily, so know we are paying for it, and so is scrappy.
Making her Suffer
Watching your friend suffer is hard. Watching your friend suffer due to something that you know you contributed to is even harder.
I’ve never been a recycler, I’ve never been a nature person, and I’ve definitely never stopped to ask myself how my decisions are impacting the world I live in. When I got the call from my best friend that I had known since basically birth, she told me that her house was torn down, her mom had died and there was little relief going on in her town in the Philippines right now. This was all due to an unexpected hurricane that shook her town into oblivion.
I didn’t know what to do but tell her it was going to be alright and offer to fly her out to my house to live with me for a while. But I couldn’t help but feel a tinge of guilt for the way I’ve treated my earth.
For the past 20 years, until that moment I had been living in a fish bowl, not realizing the things that I was doing actually had consequences. All the stuff that I had put into that landfill or all the energy that I use that contributes to the burning of fossil fuels and speeds up the rate of climate change.
I’m not blaming only myself, I am just aware that I am one of the many ignorant beings that do not understand what I am doing to my home. These natural disasters that people suffer through such as my friend, are getting bigger and bigger. For me to just stand by and watch this happen is unthinkable.
The earth can’t speak for itself. We need to realize the signs and we need to make it right. We’ve already done irreversible damage, let’s not do more. I’m starting with myself, not just for me, not just for the earth, but for my best friend. I think it’s not too late.
Complaining for a Change
For me to say that I hate climate change would be an understatement. The only reason I make money is because of the climate. The only reason I’m alive is because of the climate. Climate change is a nightmare that I am living.
I am a farmer. I work morning and night to keep my piece of land plentiful and I am also an in love with my planet. Lately though, things have been happening. I live in Florida. It’s very warm here generally but recently the temperatures have been lower than usual. This means crops dying left and right. Life as I’ve always known it seems to be falling apart. All I know is farming. I’m the best at what I do. I have never been in another profession. And climate change is slowly draining my money. I can’t sell and produce with the weather that has been going on lately.
If you ask me what motivates people to make a change, I wouldn’t have an answer. I believe that people won’t be determined to make a change until it’s too late. We tend to push things off and if we aren’t making a difference now then when will we? When the hurricanes get stronger or the tornados move faster? I can’t say, but I do know that we’re doomed as of right now.
But I guess I’m a hypocrite because what am I doing for climate change? Just whining about how no one is doing anything. I use quite a bit of energy, I don’t protest, and I most certainly do not get thrown in jail for mother nature. If I want a change, I need to start with myself.
Saving my Home
As a person living in Africa, my life has already suffered many stresses. The effects of climate change have yet to destroy my life.
Africa has struggled for many years, leaving us with a history of death, violence, but also beauty. Our land is full of exotic animals and amazing wildlife. To think that this is threatened is beside me.
By 2020, 75 to 250 million people are going to be experiencing more water problems than ever before due to climate change.
Our agriculture is at risk. Many of it is rain fed, and we will be suffering major droughts due to climate change. Africa has a lot of economic stress right now meaning that many people already are at a shortage of food. With the shortage of rain making less food, this means disaster.
What annoys me most is that I can’t really do much. I feel very disconnected from the world leaders that could actually make a difference with regard to climate change if they wanted to.
I don’t know who to turn to or who to blame but I do know that if we don’t change our ways soon then everyone including my beautiful homeland is doomed.
It starts with me asking you for help and it ends with a chain reaction. I need our earth. And so do you, for that matter. We all do.
It feels so awful to know that our poor planet is suffering due to us and our lazy, greedy, ignorant actions. I just hope that it gets the help it deserves before it’s too late. I love my earth and I love my Africa, and I can’t stand to see them suffer any longer.
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