Hvannadalshnúkur, ICELAND – Looking at the melting glacier before me left me in shock. My 2018 visit to Iceland gave me the harsh realization that climate change is one of the biggest troubles of the 21st century.
Climate change threatens to cause a rise in sea levels, an increase in natural disasters, a greater uncertainty surrounding weather patters but most of all, to lay waste to the world we see today.
As a global community, we need to do more to help save our surrounding environment from the monster that threatens to destroy it.
A glacier in Hvannadalshnúkur, Iceland. (Aimee Shah/YJI)
Gazing at the ice, it was no longer a personal matter. It was something that needed to be done globally.
Every individual needs to play a part in helping to reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions.
But larger bodies of power, such as governments, international agencies and organizations also need to change. They must cooperate to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions as a step that we need to take to help salvage our deteriorating planet.
This scenery made me realize that we do not have a second option.
There is no ‘backup’ Earth.
Aimee Shah is a Reporter with Youth Journalism International.
