Editor:
The end of school often evokes the image of children chasing ice-cream trucks and running through sprinklers.
However, this summer, kids will be coming home with just a cone and melted ice cream dripping down their arms. This summer, my fellow young people, will be a scorcher.
According to Statistics Canada, the average temperature since 1948 has been steadily increasing. Which means that this country is getting hotter and hotter, at a faster rate than almost any other country.
The consequences of the rise in temperature are dire. They include heat exhaustion, death – especially among the vulnerable – exposure to ultraviolet rays resulting in skin cancer, the rising population of mosquitoes carrying diseases such as the West Nile virus, and, eventually a shortage of water.
Currently, B.C. is supplying California with water as they experience another drought, but experts believe that it won’t be too long before we experience our own drought.
The reason behind the rise in temperature is due to global warming caused by us. We burn fossil fuels on a daily basis which has led to a greenhouse effect and erosion of the ozone layer.
Trees and plants, which we rely on to make oxygen, are being cut down for useless things like textbooks and photocopied tests.
We finally found ways of reusing materials, yet not many people use the recycling bin.
Even though watering our lawns is important, many of us seem to forget that freshwater is limited.
Having a boiling hot childhood isn’t the best experience to have, but it’ll get worse if we let it happen.
If we want to have fun, we need to earn it, instead of making our environment worse.
We don’t want to settle on Mars earlier than expected.
Leon Chen, Surrey