Youth Corner
Créditos Photo: Malvika Dangwal
Publicado en Julio 23, 2021

An Open Letter to my Generation


I am a manifestation of my dreams

A ring of fire

The condensation on a cold winter morning

I am, my desires and hopes

And secrets and epiphanies

I am so much of myself,

And today I wonder and I question

And I share it with you

 

I see climate change happening

I see its repercussions in real-time

And I wonder how long we can afford to be ignorant

Till it's looking at us in the face

And we can't blink without feeling its presence

 

We need a change

And we need it now

Here's what I decided to do

And I invite you on this with me

Switch to sustainable alternatives for menstrual hygiene

Sanitary napkins count for billions of tons of waste every year

And it's avoidable

 

Walk, cycle, carpool

Organize cleanliness drives

And save the rivers in your neighbourhood

You don't need an army behind you

You're enough to create a ripple

Trust me, waves will follow

I've seen it happen

On days, I see lush green mountains

And the north star and fireflies 

And on some evenings,

The smog clogs my vision

And I inhale more smoke than air

 

Natural disasters in my state

Increase every year

More rivers dry up

More pollutants cloak the air we inhale

Species are going extinct

Nuts and bolts of our plane

Fall apart

But this is reversible

And it doesn't take a lot

 

It takes you and me

And a resolve

A resolve to say

We deserve better

Generations that'll follow 

Deserve better

And when we become world leaders

And decision-makers, tomorrow 

I hope we remember

The urgency to protect our environment

Make our sees bluer

Our land greener

Our air purer

 

Sustainability is the only possible alternative ahead

And I call out to you, the generation to which I belong

And the ones that follow

To do our part 

In restoring our planet

And save the most beautiful fragment of this universe.

 

Original article by Malvika Dangwal, originally published on Voices of Youth, developed by the United Nations Children’s Fund. See An Open Letter To My Generation | Voices of Youth