Bring Explanation Through Education: To the Disengaged Teens and Young Adults of Low-Income Communities
Summer is the time of the year we all enjoy, well at least I would. Growing up summertime was the best as it was the end of another school year, vacation, beach trips, surviving heatwaves, and evacuating because of various wildfires. Normal right? Well at least for me in my community it was. I grew up in the valley of San Fernando in the close-knit cities of Pacoima, San Fernando, and Sylmar. Here is where I grew up with my family, along with many other low-income families. In the summertime, in my house, the air conditioning would be on almost 12 hours a day, in my grandma’s house, 3 fans would be spread about blowing hot air, and in my tia’s house, all the windows throughout the house would be open in hope for a cool breeze to swoop through. I felt blessed to be able to have access to air conditioning at my house and not worry about the heat getting to me, but it was all enjoyment until I see the look on my mom’s face when the electricity bill would come home. As a result, I wouldn’t see my mom come home till late at night, as she would have to work extra hours at her work to be able to afford the new increase in our expenses. Every day after school, I would walk to my grandma’s house just to be greeted by my grandparents with a sweaty hug and kiss. There I sat at the table talking to my grandpa and grandma about my day with each of us having to wipe the sweat off our foreheads every 10 minutes. When it came time to visit my tia, we would all sit outside her house to have a light breeze cool us down as we caught up with each other’s lives. As these moments sound like pain and torture when explained it felt like rather normal activities in normal conditions at the moment. Every year someone in my family would comment “ It just gets hotter every summer huh!”, but never did one of us ever think of the issue as being more than just a heatwave that is stronger than the last. Here my family and I just thought intense heatwaves were a normal part of our summer, while the hot breath from climate change’s evil laugh would just cook us. We remained oblivious to the problem at hand and never tied it all together that climate change was the reason for all this.
What are we currently facing?
It was not till this year that I have released the true power climate change holds for all of us and our environment. A course I am currently taking has been my first-ever line of informative education on climate change. Climate change is global warming caused by human emissions of the greenhouse throughout everyday life. We emit pollutant gases into the atmosphere from various actions such as the burning of fossil fuels to refrigerating our food. From actions ranging from complex to simple, we constantly put our future environment at risk. “Climate scientists have concluded that if the current rate of emission continues, the planet will warm to levels not observed in the last 25 years or more.”(Ramanathan 1–4). The warming of the planet then would lead to hotter and hotter heat waves, longer duration of droughts, shrinking of glaciers, the shifts of plants and animal range, more common forest fires, and much more. The list of negatives effects goes on and on and as I read along with the list the more guilt filled the back of my mind. It’s one thing to be presented with facts, but it’s another to realize that my oblivious actions from the past contributed to the negative issue of climate change. I can not just go along with my day without thinking about all climate change has caused for my community and me and what it holds for the future.
Education turns to Motivation.
The most important information that I have learned is Climate change does not hold all the power in this situation. We humans have the power to attack this urgent issue that has haunted us and is continuing to haunt us in our everyday lives. If taking action and joining a movement against climate change means I can save the environments of future generations, and avoid future generations from experiencing heat waves as I have, without hesitation I would join the movement. I see the opportunity to take action as a second chance to treat my environment better and to save the people of my community from losing quality time with their family comfortably. With my support along with many others, we can avoid more situations of homeless passing because of the heat, families trying to survive without air conditioning, help make helpful resources available to the people in our low-income communities. The opportunities are endless in the way we can contribute to a better world. We can recycle more or volunteer to support groups that clean our beaches or be the reason companies change to greener productions. Most importantly we need to provide much more education to the young and older generations of our low-income communities. We can not react to an issue we do not know exist. Just as I have been enriched and motivated by the knowledge I have gained from climate change, I hope for others to feel the same. Growing up in the same community as you all I know there is not any mention of the environment being at stake, but there is a need for a change. We should strive to bring an explanation of our troubling experiences with heatwaves and educate ourselves and our peers in our community. To a better future and more comfortable living, educate and motivate for a greener future.
Acknowledgments
I am thankful to my professor Kellie Miller for teaching and educating me deeply on the topic of climate change. You have not only made me aware of this issue but also brought an explanation to my past experiences. I would like to thank my peers for reviewing my rough drafts and pointing me in the right direction in finishing my final project. Thank you all!
References and Sources
