Ontario Nature’s second annual Youth Writing Contest

As Sarah reached the curb outside, she waved down a taxi and jumped in.

“Where to, ma’am?” the taxi driver asked.

“The hospital down the street, the one a few blocks down from here,” Sarah explained.

“Alright,” he replied. The taxi jerked forward and they were on their way.

“So, have you heard about what they say will happen if we don’t make changes to that whole climate change thing?” asked the driver.

“Yeah, that’s a bunch of nonsense … like all that stuff could really happen to the world,” Sarah laughed.

Then the taxi driver looked at Sarah through the rear-view mirror.

“I don’t know, I think it is actually a bigger deal than some people like to believe.”

Soon enough they were at the hospital. Sarah paid the driver, hopped out of the car and walked up to the main entrance of the hospital. At the front desk, she was greeted by a very pleasant young lady.

“How may I help you?”

“I am here to see James Hill, my dad.”

“Alright, one moment please. If you like, you could sit down for the time being.”

A few minutes later a nurse called Sarah’s name and led Sarah to her dad’s room.

There he was. Sarah walked over to his bed and sat down. He looked at his daughter with a very tired sad look. Then he began to talk.

“The nurse says I am going in for surgery in about three hours.”

Sarah’s dad had cancer. They wanted to remove as many of the cancer cells as they could, but everyone knew his chances of surviving were slim. No one wanted to admit it though.

“How are you feeling?” Sarah asked.

“I’ve been better,” he chuckled. “How about yourself?”

“Not too bad. I’m getting sick and tired of hearing about that climate change and everything. Everyone is taking it so seriously …”

“Well, maybe then you should too,” interrupted her dad.

“It doesn’t matter though; it will probably all just go away in a few years anyway.”

“I highly doubt that. It is up to us to change, and if we don’t … well, you’ve heard what might happen. We are getting to the point where there is no turning back. Unless we take drastic measures now and change, later we will just be regretting what we didn’t do. Even now people have experienced the effects of climate change. Many people whose homes are on the coasts have lost their entire property due to the water level rising. It may seem like a long shot, but it is up to each of us individually to do our part. If we just think, ‘Oh, I can’t make a difference,’ then we won’t.”

For some odd reason, hearing this from her dad made Sarah see the matter in a different light. She thought, “What if he is right, what if we each did our part?” Then it was a question of how, how could she change? “Maybe if I walked the few blocks to places instead of taking a taxi, maybe …” Endless opportunities for change ran through Sarah’s mind.

That was the day when Sarah changed. The real truth of what might happen to the world was revealed to her that day. She decided as an individual she would make as many positive changes as she could. What if we each had a day like Sarah’s? Just imagine the difference we could make if we all did our part.

The world in 2050

by Dylan

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!” cried the paper boy as he walked down the street. “Global Warming Is On The Moon!” Daryl ran over to the boy and bought a copy from him. He skimmed through it, seeing what the critics had to say about it this time. Surprisingly, they didn’t say anything, even though yesterday the headline was “No Global Warming.” Then he saw why. On page 17, there was an article by Professor Robert Tianga that gave evidence about global warming that nobody could dispute.

Although Professor Tianga was a renowned world scientist, Daryl could remember a time when everyone thought he was crazy. He later proved his genius when he created the first colony on Mars, in March 2036. The colony has expanded since then and now had almost as many people on it as on earth. He also revolutionized space flight with an attachment to the International Space Station that allowed them to go within 100 kilometres of the sun’s surface.

Now that he started reading it, Daryl could remember when he was at the University of Western Ontario being taught about global warming. He himself did what he could to stop it, but it still happened. It eventually created a hot wasteland at the north and south poles, killing almost all the polar bears and penguins on earth. The only survivors of the flood that followed were in upper areas of the earth, where people managed to rebuild. Now almost everyone lived on the moon or on Mars.

After a while, humans yet again got greedy, and one group tried to take over the moon. They polluted the moon by using old tanks and half-tracks that used diesel fuel, instead of newer alternative fuels, and started the process of global warming on the moon. These men eventually found out what they were doing to the moon, and destroyed their diesel- and gas-using weapons, but still took over, using the rest of their weapons.

After the moon was under one control, the government worked to undo the damage they did while they were taking over the moon. Over time, the pollution started going down, but now it was apparently going up again. Daryl just couldn’t stand it when idiots had to destroy good things. It almost happened on the moon, almost happened on Mars and did happen to the earth.

Most of the animals from earth had survived, although a few more species had become extinct. Scientists had sent unmanned submarines down below the swollen oceans, and found many species that were thought extinct, and even entirely new species. Many giant squid had swamped one submarine and destroyed it completely, but not before it sent off a message saying, “Twenty-three giant squid (Architeuthis dux) are attacking this vessel.”

After that they stopped sending submarines, and instead started sending supplies to the people still living on the planet. On Mars they had found an underground pool of water before colonization, proving old scientists right about how there used to be water on Mars. They later found even more water on Mars, all of it below the surface. They also found some very radioactive areas, like there had been a nuclear war and the planet was wiped nearly clean.

“If only humans had been able to travel to the stars in the time of the ancient Greeks, then we might have saved the Martians,” Daryl wondered aloud.

“What was that, sir?” asked the paper boy.

“Nothing, nothing, but here’s some advice. Go live your life, but don’t damage or destroy anything unless you have to,” replied Daryl as he walked away.

Daryl thought about how the entire human race was spread out between two planets and a moon, and how it now had supplies needed for doing nearly anything it wished. They didn’t have to pollute, destroy or damage anything ever again. But sometime in the future, there will be someone who will be greedy, and destroy the work of generations – all for money or power.

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