The Lions Club of Kingsville focuses on the environment as one of our pillars of service. This month we let an articulate 10-year-old named Olive, a friend’s granddaughter of a prospective Kingsville Lions Club member, speak to us all.
Hear the heartfelt plea for our environment in her unabridged email below, recently sent to anyone who will listen.
We need to listen.
The Environment
Have you ever wondered what our world will look like, fifty years later?
Well, let me put a picture in your head. On every coastline, every square meter you see will be covered in 50 tons of plastic and garbage.
If you’re thinking, “Hey, I probably won’t be alive then, so what’s it matter to me?” If you thought that, then you probably don’t care about the rest of the world.
The situation that our planet is in is a life or death situation. No joke.
By now you’re thinking, “What’s the point of you sending me this?” I’m about to tell you how you can do your part in saving the world. I’m hoping this single email can make real changes. Worldly changes.
You’re going to say, “I already do my part. I throw out plastic bags and recycle plastic bottles.” Ha. That doesn’t really change a thing.
Yes, recycling is great, but 80% of plastic bottles end up in the ocean. Bottles take over 700 years to decompose. Even then, it doesn’t really decompose. It just breaks into smaller pieces.
The oldest piece of plastic is still on earth now as we speak.
In the middle of California and Hawaii, there is a place called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in the Pacific ocean.
Over 80,000 tons of garbage float there. That can cover up Texas twice (Texas is one of the biggest countries space-wise) and France three times.
Finally, the fish you eat probably has microplastics in it, and honestly, if you’ve eaten fish more than once, you’ve probably eaten plastic.
Now you’re thinking, “What can I do to help?” Any plastics you have now, eat or drink whatever’s in it, and then throw it away immediately.
If you drink out of plastic bottles, stop doing that. You can use tap water there. It’s perfectly safe.
“Aww, but Olive,” you whine. “We can cool down our bottles in the fridge!” Huzzah. You can also put ice in a cup of water, or cool a cup of water in the fridge, or as my genial sister said, “Just turn the tap to cold.”
When you go to the grocery store, buy a reusable bag. Lots of the world dies because of the plastic in plastic bags.
Use cotton shirts, and whenever you see trash thrown around, just pick it up.
Once you get this email, forward it to everyone you know. No joke. I’m thinking of sending one of these out every week.
I’ve done my part. Now you do yours.
Now, no joke (I will haunt you in your nightmares if you don’t) send this to everyone, and I mean EVERYONE you know. And please, instead of reading this email and scoffing, actually do your part in saving the planet.
Remember, I’m Olive Casarin. And if you doubt my facts, I’ve done a lot of research on this topic. Trust me, I know.
But if you have any questions, ask me. My email is below. If you don’t know me, I probably don’t know you. Tell me your name and where you’re from, and that’s fine. I’m Olive Casarin, from Canada, now living in Mexico, and I have ideas that will save you and this world.
Message or email me, thanks.
#listentome
Fish in plastic pollution – Photo by Naja Bertolt Jensen on Unsplash
Tap water – Photo by Bluewater Sweden on Unsplash