Now is the time! Don’t put it off until tomorrow! So, take some time to analyze together the climate impacts on Cape Verde and on the lives of our children, adolescents and young people.
As you know, Cape Verde is a Small Island Developing State, located in the Sahel region, which has been dealing with a hostile climate for a long time. Meanwhile, climate change has intensified climatic phenomena such as drought, water scarcity and coastal storms. And when it comes to climate change, Cape Verde is at the top of the list of countries that are at risk from climate change according to the ND-Gain Index, published by the University of Notre Dame and the World Risk Index, published by the World Bank Group.
If we look closely, climate change is affecting water resources, agriculture, food and nutrition security, fisheries and coastal zones, forestry, infrastructure, tourism, human health and the ecosystems of our beloved country. Therefore, we can see that Cape Verde is a country that is very vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate change, although it is not one of the countries that contributes the most to climate change, it is one of the countries that suffers the most. So, as Pope Benedict XVI said, “the protection of the environment, the safeguarding of resources and the climate obliges all leaders to act together, with respect for the law, promoting solidarity with the neediest regions of the world”. From this we can see that teamwork is needed. And in order to solve this serious problem, I believe that the cause and the real cause of climate change must be known. But who is the cause and the real cause of climate change?
It’s obvious that man is the cause of climate change. But now, is the emission of greenhouse gases really the cause of climate change? Is burning coal the real cause of climate change? Or is deforestation the real cause of climate change? Is there not a hidden and somewhat obscure cause?
As I see it, there is a hidden cause behind greenhouse gas emissions, coal burning and deforestation: human greed. Greed belonging to an elite that wants to make rivers of money at the expense of the suffering of others. Since man is the cause and greed is the cause, I say that it is imperative to work on the mentality of the cause in order to reduce greed. In my opinion, if we are suffering from the impacts of climate change, it is because there has been a deficiency in human education. That’s why I propose that schools should not only teach content about climate and climate change, but should also add the teaching of moral principles and values, in order to find the X in the equation. In other words, we must invest in an educational program that not only works on climate education, in order to raise people’s awareness of an attitude that promotes a healthier and more sustainable environment, but also, together with this, teaches children, adolescents and young people extremely important moral principles and values such as solidarity, cooperativeness, health, respect for life, love for others and collective well-being. It’s not just today that we’ve been talking and teaching about the harmful impacts of climate change. However, there have been no significant improvements in people’s behavior in order to reduce the impacts of climate change. That’s why I’ve proposed that, in addition to this, education aimed at teaching moral values should also be implemented, as a way of solving and putting an end to the problem of climate change not only in Cape Verde, but also around the world.
Environmental activist Greta Thunberg said “our civilization is being sacrificed for the interest of a small group of people to continue receiving huge amounts of money”.
I agree with Greta Thunberg and add that it is a minority that benefits from fossil fuels, which have contributed greatly to climate change. This being the case, there needs to be a strong commitment to educating people in the values I mentioned above, teaching them that sometimes we have to give up our possible well-being for the sake of the collective well-being. For, as Aristotle said, “man is a social and political animal”.
As a teenager and President of the Children’s and Youth Parliament, I would like to emphasize the importance of involving children, teenagers and young people in decision-making regarding the implementation of climate policy, since it is clear that people in this age group, especially children, are the ones who contribute the least to the increase in climate change, yet they are the ones who suffer the most. This is not to say that nothing has been done to involve children, adolescents and young people in decision-making on the impacts of climate change.
The Children’s Parliament is living proof that something has been done. However, I think that we should be included more and more and given more of a voice and the opportunity to have our say.I would also like to emphasize the importance of education from an early age, because, as King Solomon once said, “we must teach children the way they should go, so that even when they are old they will not stray from it”.Therefore, if people are taught from the cradle up, we will have people in the future who are more aware of their civic role and who will put the knowledge they have learned into practice.
In short, I would like to stress that the time has come and the moment has come to unite everyone without exception for a more sustainable planet.I conclude by saying that this is the ideal planet for us to live on.Therefore, if we destroy it, we will be condemning our species to extinction.
Therefore, I beg and plead with you, the reader, to take care of planet A, planet Earth!
Author
Dâmaris Tavares
Student and president of the Children and Youth Parliament (dta57929@gmail.com)