Firebirds,
Happy April!
First, I want to thank you for taking the time to pick up the newspaper. This is one of the last issues I will work on as the editor-in-chief of The Free Press. I’ve spent countless hours crafting a paper I am proud of. As a final goodbye —and in honor of Earth Month —our editorial staff dedicated a specialty issue to mother nature.
I want to invest in a matter that is not only important to me but to the student body; this paper is me and my co-editors’ way of doing so.
Our planet is facing extreme danger. Greenhouse gases are at an all time high. The burning of fossil fuels and carbon emissions are contributing to dangerously high levels of CO2. Plastic waste is suffocating our ecosystems. Disruptions in the environment are driving species into extinction.
Permanent damage is being done to our Earth. These tragedies aren’t a coincidence— they are the result of human actions. We are taking advantage of what’s around us.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve seen greed control decisions and Earth pay the price for it. We are stuck on a broken record, acting on selfishness and making the same dangerous decisions over and over again.
In November, our country elected a president who is historically acknowledged for rolling back environmental protection reforms, describing climate change as a “con job” and withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement within moments of stepping into the Oval Office.
Greed is killing the land we stand on: self-absorbed companies, lawmakers and powerful figures are exploiting the ground our homes lie on.
Selfishness is suffocating the decisions that are being made in the government; selfish thinking that all of this land is at our disposal, to drill down to the detriment of our subsurfaces. This land doesn’t belong to just us. Entire ecosystems and species are being wiped out at the hands of habitat loss and climate change.
I encourage you to read the stories in this paper. The pages are designed to educate you on current events but also give you the knowledge needed to form your own opinion.
Above all else, I urge you to listen to the voices of experts. I urge you to listen to the science that says we are in apparent—and nearly irreversible—damage. We only have four years left to limit global warming to 1.5°C.
We need change in our decision making. We need change in our legislation. And we need to do it before it’s too late. The clock is ticking.
