Dear Mr. Prime Minister, and all those it may concern,
I’m only 14 so maybe I don’t understand fully the complexity of politics. I don’t understand why we’re still putting one of the greatest crises in human history on the back burner. I don’t understand why climate action is not top of the agenda. I don’t understand. But maybe I’m just too young.
I don’t understand how politicians can be so nearsighted that they can actually put their own small, short-term gains, over the survival of the human race. Maybe I’m too young to get it. Maybe this will all make sense when I’m older. After all I’m only 14, with plenty of growing left to do. And plenty of time after that to be an adult.
But wait… I won’t really have ‘plenty of time to be an adult’ if we fail to act on climate change now. I’ll likely be having a really hard time when I’m older, and I’ll be better off than children in many other parts of the world. Clearly I’m missing something, because if that true, the adults would be way more concerned, right?
Some of this doesn’t add up, but it’s probably my lack of life experience and education that is stopping me from understanding this complex issue. I’ve only done hours upon hours of research and listened to many people’s opinions on this. I’ve begun writing letters to you, one a week actually, discussing my opinions on this. I don’t mean to say I’m the ultimate expert, but I have looked long and hard at this issue and tried to understand how, I mean how, politicians can understand this issue and love their children and still sit and talk about other things while our world burns around us and children protest in the streets.
No amount of research will help me understand that. Maybe I’ll get it when I grow up. If I grow up.
I hope you are having a wonderful day!
Amelia Penney-Crocker