August 5, 2010
Alana G. is ten years old, a great friend of Earth, and is working with us this summer to report on her activities as an environmentalist in her own community. Here is her most recent report.
- Seymour
Hello fellow Shipmates,
I can’t believe how fast this summer is flying by. I wish I could stop the clock or at least add more hours to my day because I have so much more crusading that I would like to do before the summer ends. But that’s okay, I will just continue to parade up and down the streets of Southern California, spreading our message, fighting pollution and battling Planet Poachers with our friends from "KIDS TODAY FOR A BETTER TOMORROW" for as long as I can. As a matter of fact, a friend of mine asked me last week "With Summer coming to an end do you feel sad that your KTFBT group will be over?" Hmm… I paused for a moment to think about it and then I said "No! Who ever said that my crusade would have to be over?" 
I sure didn’t. The way I see it is, my journey has just begun. This world is humungous. Bigger then we can ever imagine and with change happening everyday there will always be a poor little animal to defend, an ocean to protect and eco systems all over the world that will need our help to save them and it all starts at home with each and every one of us.
There are little changes that we can make in our daily lives that can have a huge impact on the world around us. And just like you, I want to learn as much as I can to make sure that I am living a sustainable life or in other words, a planet friendly life. Like Seymour has mentioned to us all before, if we all do our best at lowering our carbon footprints we can help slow down the greenhouse effect that is causing the Earth’s climate change. Not sure what that means? Don’t worry; I’m sure Seymour will come to our rescue. (Seymour…can you help a kiddo out please?)* I learned all about climate change (well, not all but a lot) because I’ve always wondered about it and what all fuss was about when I heard my parents or the news talking about "Global Warming." My mom tried to explain it to me and I also did some research on the Internet and then I kind of understood what is going on but not enough to feel confident enough to explain it to someone else which really bugged me. I always try to learn things well enough where I feel comfortable telling someone else…like you…what it is I am trying to explain.
Well, then I met Seymour Simon and now I know to never fear…Seymour’s here. 
Seymour was kind enough to send me a copy of his book called "Global Warming." It is a great book because it is easy for us kids to understand but still tells us everything we need to know. Like, did you know that Polar bears live in the Artic and depend of the sea ice to live? Well, because of climate change the sea ice is disappearing right before our very eyes. They ice and glaciers are melting. :-( It is sooo sad. And if the ice melts it adds water to the oceans which changes even more stuff. It causes the temperature to change and then a whole global change starts to happen. It is INCREDIBLE how much climate change affects our entire world.
That’s why I think it is sooo important that we humans start doing our part to help protect and clean up our planet, and it’s especially important that we change the way we live and do certain things. We keep wasting…wasting…wasting…and polluting so much that it makes my head spin. :-( Where does everybody think that trash goes? Yes, it goes to landfills but what happens when the landfills are full? Do we have to make a new landfill which might mean cutting down a forest to make a new one? I mean…come on adults…you have to admit we are continuing to ruin our planet everyday. These are questions I ask myself everyday. I am really worried what the world is going to look like in 20 years or what condition it is going to be left to us in. It isn’t fair that we have no say so in what is going on around us everyday, but what I will say is that "I’m Alana, 10 years old and I’m ready to continue this battle to save planet Earth for a long as I’m here." Like Seymour said, we are all shipmates on Planet Earth and we all share the same planet. So whether it is the forest, the ocean, or the desert that you love, or if you are an animal lover and it’s the penguin, the dolphin, the pelican, the Polar bear, the seal, the tiger, the panda or like for me….the sea turtle that you love, please start making a change to live a GREENER life today. Do it for the animals…do it for the world.
Alana G.
"Science Rules!"
P.S Remember this is OUR PLANET OUR FUTURE and together we really can make a difference. We just do it one small step at a time. Will you stand with me or I should say walk with me???
*Note from Seymour: Global warming is when our planet Earth becomes hotter. We also call it "climate change." Weather and climate are different. Weather is what happens every day in a particular place. Climate is the average weather over a long period of time in a particular place. We know that Earth’s climate is getting hotter on average and this is caused by the greenhouse effect. It’s like when a car is left parked in the sun in the summer. The heat can’t get out of the car and the air in the car becomes very hot. That’s what happens when the sun’s heat is trapped by greenhouse gases in Earth’s atmosphere. We need a certain amount of the greenhouse effect to keep Earth warm enough to sustain life, but if there are too many greenhouse gases, Earth gets unusually warm and bad things happen. Carbon dioxide is one of the most important greenhouse gases in Earth’s atmosphere and all of us can do something to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. It’s called lowering your carbon footprint. You can read how you can help do that in my book GLOBAL WARMING.
Posted by: Alana G
