In response to an Individuals & Societies 7 current events study article about the BC Wildfires in the summer of 2018, Grade 7 student, Wylie goes deep and writes an impassioned reflection and makes global connections.
“In my personal opinion, this story is extremely important to help spread awareness for global warming and climate change. This message shows just how much the rising CO2 levels in the atmosphere is affecting the environment. They said that there were 2000 wildfires, in BC alone, by the end of August. This means that they aren’t even counting the hundreds of fires going on around the entire globe.
Wildfires destroy homes, communities and end up hurting countless people. Although it is now fall, causing rain to pour out onto the province, there are still fires going on around the rest of the world. Firefighter and governments are trying the best they can to help tackle these roaring fires but that doesn’t mean they can handle it all on their own. We all contribute to global warming, whether we realize it or not. Any time you drive a gas-powered car, buy a plastic bag or bottle or buy a factory-made meal, you are contributing to the rising warmth that is spilling over the planet.
The wildfires across BC have opened many people’s eyes to the fact that global warming is a bigger threat than we thought. Fire feeds off the warmth in the atmosphere and if the heat is warm enough to melt the polar ice caps than it is surely hot enough to cause monstrous fires to spread worldwide. I think that this story symbolizes the problem and helps to simplify the massive problem. When the fires began, in early July, they were small and easy to handle, but by August they were wild and out of control. This shows that they will keep getting larger and larger until eventually they are too large to fight and cause mass destruction.
This darker subject is not pleasant to talk about but it must be discussed or else it will be left unnoticed until it is too late. We need to act fast and continue to come up with helpful solutions such as electric vehicles, reusable straws and garbage-inoculated houses. With more creations like these, there is a chance that we can lower the number of fires and, on a bigger scale, lower the amount of CO2 we are releasing into the sky. There will always be fire because it is a natural thing that occurs in the wild, but the man made fires that affect people and communities can be stopped if we stop making careless mistake.
The main influencers of man made fires are cigarette buds and campfires. Both of these have simple solutions that will eliminate them for good. For cigarette buds, we just need to be more thoughtful when it comes to where we leave them. If we throw them in the garbage than at least we don’t leave them in the natural environment or in public areas. For the campfires we just need to make sure that we put them out for good. The common error that occurs is laziness. We need to pick up after ourselves and look after not only the environment but also the earth in general.
This is an important message that needs to be discussed. This article covered the topic of fires in BC but we need to think of the bigger picture. Our world is being affected by our careless wrong-doings and we are now seeing the effects that it caused. If you think about it, everything that we do, and everything that we are, is because of the Earth. The ground we walk on, the air we breathe, the food we eat, is all because the Earth provides it for us. We have had the thought that we deserve to be on the Earth but really we are lucky to have found this world.
This article opened my eyes to the problems going on in the world. Even though the article only covered the basics, it helped me expand on the overall effects of our actions. We need to take responsibility for the mishaps that we have made while trying to make a world for us. I think that these wildfires are only the beginning of many problems to come if we cannot fix them. I believe that everything I covered was important and relevant and I hope that I have helped to open your eyes to how our actions affect the globe.”
Wylie S.
Grade 7