The exponentially expanding population must be the source of pollution simply because without the manipulation of man, animals’ impact on the environment is negligible. Moreover, the sources of energy provided for the people are often cheap and unclean. For example, China has an approximate population of 1,329,349,388, the largest in the world. In order to sustain this obscenely large body of citizens, China constructs, on average, one coal-burning plant per week. Since its main concern is to provide its citizens with enough energy to survive, the daunting prospect of developing “greener” sources of energy is not appealing. Unfortunately, as increasing numbers of humans are produced, the task of finding places for them to live has a higher priority than that of researching cleaner energy production methods. The total population of Earth is in the neighborhood of six billion people, most of whom use some form of transportation involving the combustion of fossil fuels.

Pollution, in the form of increased carbon dioxide (CO₂) levels, is something that we are largely ignorant about. Humans have increased the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere drastically mainly through the burning of fossil fuels. The combustion of these emits carbon monoxide particles (a colorless, odorless, toxic gas) which, when released into the air, react with oxygen to form carbon dioxide. Unfortunately, it is helping to ensure the eventual destruction of the environment through increasing temperatures. The warmer climate is causing the accelerated melting of the polar ice caps, which will eventually raise sea levels and cause widespread flooding. CFC’s, or chlorofluorocarbons, are the main cause of ozone depletion. Mainly used in industry in the forms of refrigerants, propellants, and cleaning solvents, these nasty chemicals have created a hole in our protective atmospheric layer that allows the entrance of harmful solar rays. These would be as serious if we had the natural resources to sustain our population while we searched for a solution. Unfortunately, we are consuming them faster than is healthy for our planet.

Compounding global overpopulation and pollution, depletion of natural resources magnifies the damage of “man’s footprint” on the planet. Deforestation causes flooding and washes away vital nutrients necessary to produce food. Contamination of Earth’s oceans further disrupts the fragile and essential life cycle upon which all forms of life, including man, depend. The Amazonian rain forest has some of the most diverse wildlife in the world, second only to coral reefs. Yet, for all the majesty and beauty surrounding such a natural wonder, we feel the need to cut it down to make houses and toothpicks. Deforestation is occurring on a large scale in the rain forests of the world, the Pacific Northwest, and developing third-world countries that are in desperate need of revenue. The removal of trees at such a pace that is now considered normal, even necessary, is causing loss of an abundance of oxygen-producing plants and trees. In combination with our constant pollution, lower oxygen levels will help to further the series of catastrophic events that is the evolution of the human race. Furthermore, the annihilation of the rain forest, the second most biodiverse region on Earth, is causing the loss of many precious species that are critical to the maintenance of the balance of life. Lamentably, in the most biodiverse places on the planet, the coral reefs, similar bouts of death and near-extinction have become commonplace. The endangerment of the animals and plants in the rain forests and coral reefs result in an unacceptable and highly devastating disruption to the “circle of life.” Combined with overpopulation and pollution, depletion of natural resources and ravaging of plant and animal life implies a nauseating consequence.

The unfortunate causes of environmental death are all interconnected. Overpopulation leads to use of cheap energy sources. Use of cheap energy results in major atmospheric pollution. Pollution is helping lead to global warming and therefore increasing natural disasters. Increasing amounts of destruction from natural disasters necessitates more resources to rebuild and provide for unlucky survivors. Depletion of natural resources leads to loss of plant and animal diversity. Fewer plants and animals means more room for ignorant, dirty humans. It is a vicious cycle that cannot be stopped. Regrettably, “the central problem of our age has therefore become the destruction of man’s total environment.”

Travis Carpenter, 4/24/08

If anything, I hated the environment. I sometimes purposely threw my recyclables in the trash just so I could say, ‘Hah! I’m not gonna be goody-goody and help our climate! Screw the climate! HAH!’. I would drive a diesel car around or even turn it on and leave to further my unnecessary hate of the ozone. If there wasn’t a trash can around, I would throw my garbage on the ground. I’d been charged four times with littering, and given over fifty warnings about throwing my trash anywhere, but I showed about as much concern as a banana slug who witnessed a murder. They called me Spitstain, but I preferred my actual name of Allan Renolds. But either way, I was about to get a rude awakening.

As I saw a trash can full of recyclable goods, I tipped it over and laughed. But at the bottom of that can I saw a very short man who resembled a leprechaun. He looked at me with a malice I could not describe (except how I’m describing it right now). I assumed that the trash can was his home and now that I tipped it over, he was going to either yell at me or attempt killing me. I stared at him at he immediately spammed verbal anguish at me in Japanese.

“Bakka!”, yelled the small man.

“Duuuuuuude… I have no idea what you’re sayin’…”, I replied.

“YOU IDIOT!!! LEARN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE SO PEOPLE WILL STOP THINKING AMERICANS ARE EDUCATIONALLY REDUNDANT!!!”, screamed the small green man.

“Ok”, I replied.

“I am the Green Ninja of Happy Flowers. I have been waiting here for you, Mr. Renolds.”, said the green ‘ninja’. “ I am here to either educate you on the environment, or kill you.”

“Cool”, I replied.

So me and the ninja wandered around the town, speaking of all the fanciful things the environment has to offer. We talked for hours, enjoyed meals and even visited my mother along the way. By the end of the journey, the ninja turned to me and asked me one question.

“So, do you love the world now?”

“Ummm…”, I started.

“Too slow”, said the ninja.

The ninja the shot thousands of bees out of his sleeve and they stung me. I was then afflicted with over 9000 diseases at the same time. But that’s beside the point. I now love the earth so much, I’m buried six feet underground, buried by a strange, short, green man.

Her head dropped and swayed back in forth, she was hopeless. completely oblivious to her surroundings Skadis paw touched water it was cold and stung her raw paws , she looked ahead and saw a lone sheet of ice floating in the horizon she squinted her eyes and saw a body , powerful and beautiful yet motionless. Skadi called to it and heard nothing; she knew it was her mother because they were the only bears in the arctic. Skadi continued to call and as she prepared one last loud call her foot slid forward and she fell into the water. She swam her hardest and decided to go to her mother. She pushed and pushed and finally made it she crawled onto the sheet of ice and laid beside her mother as they floated to horizon and to the end of a species.

Are choking out our ozone;

Creating global warming

That makes us sweat in deepest winter.

The papers in our landfills

Are decomposing uselessly;

Not being recycled

And forcing new trees to be killed.

The S.U.V’s and 2-ton trucks

Are polluting all our air;

With 9 miles-to-a-gallon

Our resources are disappearing.

The problems just keep building

As the population grows

Destroying our Earth

Our one and only home.

by Elizabeth Murphy

Where is our Earth going?

“Oh, man, I haven’t been home for years!”

“Yeah, I know! It looks so different, huh?”

“Yeah, it does… that’s weird. I don’t remember that hotel being there.”

“Me neither… it’s kind of ugly. Wasn’t there a field there before?”

“Aww, yeah! I remember that! It was so pretty and green… I saw some bunnies
there a long time ago…”

“They probably aren’t there anymore…”

“Nah, not there. Huh, that’s sad… maybe the old park is there!”

“The old park? Oh yeah, that place! Yeah! It should be right over… there…”

“What did they do to it?”

“It’s… apartment buildings…”

“Why would it be apartments? This town can’t be THAT big…”

“But that’s what’s there now. Ugh, that sucks!”

“I know! I liked that park…”

“Well, maybe the old lot is still there.”

“The lot that was behind out house before? The one with all the pretty trees?”

“Yeah, that HAS to still be there! There was such fresh air back there! They
can’t have cut that down!”

“Yeah, let’s go!” …

“… Oh… my god…”

“They didn’t…”

“My god, they did. They cut those trees down. How could they?! Those gave us a
lot of nice clean air! That’s what this town was famous for! Having so many
trees that gave us clean oxygen, and the farms…”

“Maybe that’s drawing tourists, so they’re industrializing…”

“Yeah, industrializing, all right! Look at that factory! It’s spewing all sorts
of nasty chemicals into the air…”

“Thanks for destroying our ozone!”

“Oh man. This is terrible. All of our pretty green plants are disappearing…”

“Those were beneficial, too! They gave us clean air!”

“I bet those factories are polluting our water as well.”

“I’m kind of glad I don’t live here anymore if that’s the case. Poisonous water
is definitely not fun to drink.”

“Ugh, there’s probably a bunch of landfills where our farmland used to be.”

“Landfills? If we fill the Earth up with landfills, we won’t have any place to
live!”

“I know. This sucks. At least we recycle at home.”

“Yeah, we recycle. We aren’t adding to the garbage in the world.”

“This place isn’t totally unredeemable, right?”

“Nah, I think if we all start recycling and being aware of our pollution, the
whole world will change eventually.”

“Eventually… easier said than done.”

“Stop being such a pessimist! We’re helping just be recycling, aren’t we?”

“But just us…”

“Not just us! Other people all over the world are recycling too. That’ll add up
soon.”

“All right, I guess it won’t hurt…”

“Of course not. Come on, let’s go home.”

“Yeah, homeward bound.”

Throughout the week San Marin leadership will be giving out raffle tickets to students who walk or bike to school and the tickets will be drawn each day for prizes.

There has also been an environmental essay contest, entries were due April 18^th. 1^st place winner will receive 200$, 2^nd place will receive 100$ and 3^rd place prize will be 75$.

April 25^th there will be a fair. Everyone can dress in green and there will be organic food sales. Fundraisers will be held for San Marin clubs.

Her hair the wind that blows

Her lips the perfect pink

That sits upon a rose

Her hand the lightest touch

Her voice the calming sea

She might not mean much to you

But she’s everything to me.

Would give up a well-worn dime

A group who judges on state not substance

Not on thought but pride

A gathering that changes constantly,

An eternally rolling sea

Shifting as others seek to contain us

Though this can never be

Now we are told, “You must unite!

The day has finally come.

You must start the global fight or forever be undone!”

We sing, we laugh

We skip away

We rarely pay them heed

The world is fine, or at least is now

How could there be any need?

“That’s it, I’ve had it with you!” she screamed at me. She was very small, probably about six feet tall. She wore leaves for a dress. Her fiery red hair was about her height, and flowed in the night breeze. She wore a wreath around her head, which was weird since we were no where close to Christmas. She also seemed to have a good tan on her, and her face would have been cutesy, if not contorted into a snarl, which oddly enough seemed almost comical, especially with her eyes being a nice shade of turquoise. “Well, what do you have to say for yourself?!”

“I think you may have broken my jaw,” I said coolly. I wasn’t one you would want to meet in a dark alley. My brown hair came down in dreadlocks. My leather jacket was aided in its ability to intimidate by the spikes that lined the shoulders. I wore a white t-shirt under it, and had some purposely ripped jeans. And combat boots. Needless to say, I was a blue eyed man you did not want to get involved with. “And do you know who I am?”

Unfortunately, little miss muscles (she didn’t look it, but that haymaker certainly knocked me for a loop) wasn’t paying attention to me. She rooted through the trash, and eventually found said can. She properly disposed of it, and then crossed her arms. “Yeah I know who you are! You’re that punk Tal who thinks he’s king of the world. News flash! You’re not!”

I wasn’t about to let this little childrens book wannabe tell me how to live my life. “Yeah, well you can just go…”

But before I had gotten a word in, I found that I was now a well grown tree right next to the recycling. Now this was enough to make me use profanity (okay, I use it a lot, but I used a lot more than I usually use). Now, I wasn’t a normal looking tree, I noticed that my arms were now the branches, yes, but now my face jutted out from it, like a knothole. I noticed this when that little living air freshener showed me my reflection, “I think you look better, eh punk?”

“What the (beep) did you… What the (beep)? Why can’t I (Beeping) swear?”

My hostess decided that it would be fun to put a bar of soap in my mouth, “What did your mom teach you about language you little punk? Well, I thought you’d be like that, so I put a little censor spell on you!”

I decided to spit that stupid thing out of my mouth, “I’m the little punk?! Why don’t you come over here and say…”

That’s when my mouth was stitched closed, “Shush, your first lesson is coming around the corner!”

It was hard to see anything in the darkness of night (stupid detention) but I noticed where those footsteps were coming from. That old as the dinosaurs janitor was coming. Stupid moron. Always smiling. Always trying to tell us to respect everyone around us.

“Well, let’s see what we have today!” He said in his stupid happy tone, behind his stupid beard, “What’s this?”

The stupid idiot found some food in the trash. Probably not getting paid enough to feed himself.

“This should be in the compost heap were making,” he stupidly shook his head, “kids these days!”

He then stupidly walked off with a bag full of all that stupid food in the trash and…

“You know I can hear what you’re thinking?” The little miss plum fairy wannabe…

“You already referred to me as a different kind of wannabe,” The flighty thing than slapped me, which surprisingly, turned me back to normal. “Did you learn anything you thick headed idiot?!”

“That you’re a (beep),” That (beep) (beep) censor spell is still working…

“Did you not see him root through all that trash!?” She yelled at me.

I shrugged, “So what? That’s his job…”

She slapped me again, “NO IT’S NOT! FINE! I see inspiring people aren’t going to help you!”

That’s when I noticed our scenery had changed from the exterior of my school to the ocean, and that I had become a mermaid…

She giggled, “Technically it’s a merman,” Her eyes flashed, and the (Beep) turned me into a freakin chick!

“What the (beep) is this?!” Now she was really asking for it.

I guess who I am is finally getting to her. She promptly turned me back.

“Don’t think of yourself to highly, now we’ll see something you casually pass off as nothing…”

That’s when on huge oil tanker was coming our way. And I saw what it was headed for.

“Hey, (Beep)! Watch out for that…”

I’m sure even if they had heard me it would have been no good. I saw the crude substance drain out of the tanker as it screeched against the rocks.

I don’t know how fast I was swimming (I was surprised I had a knack for it) but if there was anything I knew from what little news I’d watched, I did not want to get that stuff on me.

“What’s the matter?” The red haired… thing said, “I thought animals were stupid for not getting out of the way.”

“You know what, you can just go…”

That’s when I got caught in some (beep) net. A (beep) net!

“Wow, we certainly are close to the coast!” She chuckled, “and you humans sure are smart for making these nets. I mean, sure you don’t have gills or fins, but I’m sure you deserve to be in the ocean a lot more than everything that calls it its home!”

And like that she was gone. I struggled, I struggled hard. But as I twisted and turned the safety net around the bay kept tangling me more and more. And then the black substance washed over me. I tried to breath. I tried my hardest. But it was choking the life out of me…

That’s when not just I, but the entire class woke up.

“Mr. Reed! I’m very disappointed in your class,” The red haired presenter in a business suit shouted to our teacher, “this planet is what they are going to inherit, and they don’t pay attention to a word I say!”

“I’m sorry Miss Dust,” He replied, “class, please show her the proper respect.”

“Yes!” “Of course!” “I wouldn’t think or doing anything else!” were just some of the things me and the rest of the class said.

She nodded and continued. I rubbed my eyes for a second. I thought I saw wings for a second on her. I was sure I was seeing things. Of course, after class my friend said, “Dude, she looked just like the brood from this dream I was havin’!”

The voice was insistant.

“Wait for the sunrise?  Wait for the thunder clouds?  But the sun shall rise every day and the thunder clouds shall appear every winter.  Every day.  Every winter.  Every year.  Every.”

“Sit and wait.  Sit and wait for the sun to rise, for those colors to shake and spread and squirt across the sky: that orange and that purple, that yellow.  Sit and wait for the thunder to prance and leap and strike through the blotches of musty grey.  Just wait.”

“You think that I have not seen these things before?  These things that are contant! These things which never change!  I assure you I have seen a  setting sun, a thundering sky!”

“Have you seen it?  Have you seen?”

“Leave me.  you know I can not.  I can never see.”

She stuck her walking stick underneath her armpit and rose.  The deep redwoods, the bright flowers, these things she thought she should never have the chance to see.  With her hands, her feet she saw the things of the world in the only way she knew how.

“Look!  Open your eyes!  Look!  Look!  Look!”

She lunged into the air, fisting through it.  Her feet fluttered as she fell hard towards the brown earth.

“I hate…”

The words barely escaped her mouth.  Her eyes were still shut hard, but she could see.  The oranges and yellows of the flowers beneath her chin.  The brown of the dirt as it rubbed her clothes.  The tall redwoods that grew and grew and grew.  She could see those colors shake and spread and squirt across the sky.  She could see.