To the editor:
My name is Anna. I’m 13 and in seventh grade, and I was honored to introduce Elizabeth Warren at her town hall in Milford last week on an issue that is so important to me: climate.
About 100 years ago, we started burning fossil fuels on a massive scale. Today, power plants and other sources dump millions of tons of CO2 into the air on a daily basis, changing our atmosphere. The result? We’ve seen so-called hundred-year storms occurring a few times in a single year. The length and intensity of heat waves since 2000, from Texas to Europe, have been unprecedented in the past hundred years.
Australia is literally on fire. Kids like me will see big changes in our lifetime. If we don’t cut emissions now, then by the time I’m 45, global temperatures will have risen between 2.7 and 4 degrees Fahrenheit. That means more extreme weather, food and water scarcity, and the spread of insect-borne diseases. We could lose many of the wonders of the world, like coral reefs, endangered species, and glaciers, and sea level rising will threaten places like the Florida Keys, coastal cities, and entire nations, like the Maldives.
As time goes on, the data gets clearer and the forecast only gets worse. We need to take action now to protect our environment for future generations. We need real leadership to deal with the climate crisis. Elizabeth has not one but many climate action plans – and a record of getting things done. She is a brilliant, hardworking, committed leader who listens to the experts, looks at the big picture, and does the right thing.
I might not be old enough to vote for her, but I hope you’ll vote for her for me, for my future, and for your kids’ futures too.
Anna Brammer-DePuy
Milford