Dear Mr. Prime Minister and all those it may concern,
I write you a letter a week about the Climate Crisis. At the beginning of this horrible year started with wildfires in Australia. I wrote my fifth letter about that tragedy and now I’m back, 40 letters later to address the situation in the United States.
The Australia fires were horrible to watch, but from Canada that’s all we really did: watch. But now our closest neighbour is on fire. People with respiratory issues already had COVID-19 to fear, now they have to fear breathing outside air as well. The air quality problem is also effecting BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour) more. For years, toxic waste and other pollution sites have been placed near those marginalized communities. As a result of this racism, rates of lung cancer and other health problems are much higher in BIPOC communities. Once again it is them suffering as most as wildfires spread and smoke billows over our country.
The Climate Crisis is in my opinion the biggest human crises. It is not only an environmental and ecological crisis, but an economic crisis showing us the classist and racist divides in our world, a resource and food crisis, and of course a massive health crisis. All this smoke is going to have an effect on the people consuming it. Back when Australia was on fire I read a quote from a new parent: “My child has never breathed clean air.” Soon, every child will be like that child, and there will be nowhere for refugees to flee to that hasn’t been touched by smoke.
Clean air is not a privilege. It’s a right. A right to many are already being denied. This is not right.
When we fight for climate action, you are not only fighting for the right to a livable future. We are fighting for the people here and now who have put up with bad air quality and lack of clean water for to long. We are fighting for every persons right to clear air, water and earth. We are fighting for Climate Justice. On the 25th of September, we strike. Because of the pandemic our numbers will be smaller and our actions less dramatic, but we’re still here. We know that this is unacceptable. We know that these fires are a direct result of Climate Change. We are ready to stand for not only the future, but the here and now. We are ready to stand for Climate Justice.
I hope you have a wonderful day!
Amelia Penney-Crocker